January 28, 2013
We turned off the main highway and headed down a tree-lined road to the sand dunes. As they started to come into view, we could see these were no ordinary sand dunes; they were sand mountains!
I wasn’t sure what to expect when we arrived, but I pictured tour buses, parking on the side of the road, lines to rent sand boards, ATVs buzzing around the dunes, and lots of people. It wasn’t like that at all. Instead, it was very peaceful and quiet, with only a handful of cars in a small parking area. There was a small trailer where you could rent sand boards and buy refreshments, but immediately we realized we’d rather explore than run up and down hills to sled.
To explore the dunes, all you have to do is walk through a stream in a river bed and there you are, at the base of a whole sand world. We found ourselves at the foot of a sand hill and decided to climb straight up. It was one of those situations where you stop, exhausted, to find you’re only half way up and it’s steeper than you thought. After alternating periods of climbing and resting, we finally made it to the top. –Cyndi
(Te Paki Sand Dunes, New Zealand)
