January 29, 2013
While the west side of the Aupouri Peninsula (Ninety Mile Beach and Te Paki Dunes) gets all the glory, the east side gets overlooked, barely mentioned in guidebooks. The one-sentence mention in my Frommer’s guide described “silica sand so white you need dark glasses.” I pieced together information from bus tour brochures on where we could go to see this sand.
Rarawa Beach was a few miles north of our inn and was our first stop. After barely spotting the side road and making a quick right, we headed down the unpaved road until it dead-ended by the shore. (I’ll mention here that side roads here are really hard to spot; if you’re coming this way, bring a detailed map book, sharp eyes, and a car that makes quick U-turns.) After making our way between a couple of dunes, I caught my breath as the beach scene came into view.
I expected white sand, but this was so white it looked like snow, and the areas where sand collected looked like snow drifts. In the middle of this was a blue-green river, a color so striking against the white of the sand. The sand itself was powdery soft, again like snow. I just could not get over walking around with my eyes telling me I see snow, but my skin telling me it was warm. It was one of the most surreal places I have ever been, looking more like a set for a Santa movie than anything I’ve seen in real life. It was magical, but it was hard to get over the frustration of not being able to throw snowballs at Rich. –Cyndi
