Return To Ripiro Beach

The next morning we drove back to the coast and to the Kai Iwi Lakes, fresh water lakes set in the petrified dunes just inland from the sea. There we waited for the Tasman tide to ebb. It was Vicki's 70th birthday, in New Zealand, and we wanted to return to Riparo Beach as we had done in 2014. We set forth with time to spare, walking the 2k through the pastures, over stiles and electrified fences, up and down DOC staircases, to the ravine that leads to the most deserted beach in NZ, sandstone cliffs for a backdrop, a beautiful little waterfall, and no one and no thing in sight as far as the eye could see. And beyond. Also sunny and warm weather. Definitely a repeat bucket-list destination.

One of the great places we have been

Not without its hurdles

Exactly 100 steps

First view of the beach

Path through the ravine; much improved by new DOC staircases

The little 12 foot waterfall

Looking north

And south

From the surf back to the waterfall

Pano

Not a swimming beach

Coal seam in the cliffs

We left our imprint

On the walk back out, the cattle had placed themselves between us and Rooby

And watched as we approached

I tried everything I could think of..."get along little doggies" "ribeye" "sirloin"
"T-bone"...even "filet mignon"...but at length there was nothing to do but cowboy-
and cowgirl-up and wade into the midst of them

They just followed along; eventually it dawned on us they were expecting us to
open the gate and let them into greener pastures

Nothing doing, bovine-breath

And there we left them

That evening we had pork ribs at the Northern Wairoa Hotel in Dargaville; we'll
always have Dargaville; but especially we'll always have Riparo Beach