24 March 2017 Utea Park, 90-Mile Beach

We knew this campsite looked 'a bit different' to your average camping location - just from the information on the NZMCA App - there were no proper facilities here - it is like freedom camping in a hippy commune - to be blunt. All surf boards and pot (perhaps). 




Not much level ground - this is a 'bunk-bed' style backpackers place, bring your sleeping-bag and be prepared for a shared shower cubicle (if you don't want to brave the cold ones).
Phew - thank God for the relative luxury and privacy of our Stan the Van  - including having a good shower!




The attraction is, it's literally right on the sand-dunes of the beach - about a 10 kms drive down a gravel track to a very isolated iwi-owned piece of land that was headlined as uncommercialised and motivated by 'koha' (donation). Tanya and Paul are great hosts - but the skeptic in me, can't help thinking that these people are making lots of 'invisible' cash from this informal enterprise based on iwi land. There's an inauthentic nature about their hospitality that makes me uncomfortable about this 'underground' element of NZ society. There is a play to the traditional Maori ways as if it's unreachable by us 'tourists' (however we are defined), but that's not really fair, is it....many of if are fully aware of the Maori philosophy, and to my mind, it doesn't include encouraging naive tourists to drive their ill-equipped cars onto the famous 'race-track' that is 90-mile beach, so that they can get stuck and have to call the local tow-truck and get charged $150 to get pulled-out of the sand. It happens so many times a day that it's a joke - but not for me looking at all the rusted-out vehicles that people don't bother reporting or getting out, polluting the beaches...

One of the many cars left behind to cause a hazard and pollute the beaches here...

wild horses on their way to the beach...

Along the drive through the timber-industry pine forests, we had to slow down for the wild horses we were warned about. There's no poison here. Timber managers apparently are positive about maintaining a health population of wild horses, because they help keep the grass and weeds down between the saplings. 

wild horses drinking at the Spring near the beach...

And the beach was the best sunset view we have seen from 90-mile beach so far:



Catching glimpses of the horse families galloping through the shadows of the tall trees, and out into the daylight and the sea breeze was a magical experience. This place is probably the closest I've seen to the paradise that those NZ myths claim to hold - if only I could forget about all the pollution and poison, maybe that would be true....