We did nothing again today. I figured I wouldn’t be able to find any new and interesting pictures. I was wrong.

Last night, after I posted, we watched the sunset from our patio. I’ll come back to the actual sunset later, but this was the view from the patio, just after sunset. It gives you an idea of just how lovely this is.

This morning we started our beach walk a little earlier, trying to avoid the midday sun. Not a lot earlier mind you, but at least a little. I’ve talked before about the patterns in the sand. Today, they were even more distinct than previously.

Because we started earlier, we could walk longer. At the 4km mark, we stopped to stretch. I did my stretch by the water so the surf could wash over my feet.

There are sand dunes along portions of the beach, and I decided to climb up and see what was on the other side. It was an RV camp site. When I turned around, I could see Jan, way down by the water. Note the colours of the water behind her.

And then, of course, I had to run down the dunes. Great fun.

The sand on the beach here is very hard, so vehicles have no trouble driving long the beach. Turns out that it’s also hard enough for bicycles.

Years ago, on one of our first trips to Paris, we went for an evening walk the day we arrived. The Eiffel Tower looked so inviting, and quite close. We decided it would be easy to walk to it. When we eventually gave up and turned around, it didn’t look any closer than it had when we started. Ever since then, it has been something of a running joke with us. Some things are much farther away than they look! The beach in Ahipara has a hill with the same effect. No matter how close, or far away, it always looks the same.

I opened this post talking about watching the sunset yesterday. I took many pictures … of course I did. When we reviewed the pictures, it turns out that Jan and I have very different ideas of the best sunset picture. So we’re looking for help. I’m going to post both pictures, without saying which one I prefer. We’d love to hear from you, with which one you like best, and why.

Tomorrow we head south again. It has become clear that we goofed. We only booked three nights in Ahipara. Next time we’re thinking a week would be more appropriate. Who knows, we might even make it to the Cape Reinga Lighthouse. Or, we might just walk along the beach again.