A flying trek along the coast

New Zealand part II - Posted On

Our next waypoint is Bayly’s Beach on the west coast of the Northland. 60kms of sand cliffs waits for our wings to take us up soaring for hours. The idea is simple: taking our backpacks, camping and flying gear and walking or flying all along the beach. Our contact there is Margaret and Neil, who we met on our first day in New Zealand one year earlier. They nicely host us in their magnificent remote house close by the sea after a long and difficult ride through the hilly farmland. 

A first mission leads us from mid-beach to the northern end, a high bluff that looks on the sea from 700m heights. We manage to fly all along the 30kms in a very easy and comfortable wind and climb the bluff by walk. Unfortunately our luck changes with the wind from that time and we hardly manage to have any flight at all for the whole following week. 

Very motivated though, we hitchhike our way to the southern point of the beach, an extremely remote area, very much looking like Sahara. It takes us two full days to get there. And from that point, where we expected nice cliffs and wind, there’s actually none we could find. Walking and moaning on the sand becomes our daily activity. 

At that time, we meet a strange man, Alvin Willcocks, who seem to have discovered something very peculiar. An ancient boat that might have been from the Spanish was made in 1500 and sunk nearby. That would mean New Zealand would have been (re) discovered by the Spanish LONG BEFORE James Cook. Strange news in strange place. They are now making a documentary, “The mystery of Midgebay”, about it.

Making our way back north, we stop by Joy’s house, an old lady who picked us up two days prior and invited us to stay in her place on the cliff. It’s a perfect spot for playing with the wind for hours. Sea, wind and sun seem to be an excellent recipe for growing old with youth in the eyes!