The Cape Reinga Coastal Walkway is at the extreme northern tip of the North Island of New Zealand. Like many tramps in New Zealand it is not a circuit and transport has to be arranged to one or both ends. In this case, we stayed at Waitiki Landing Backpackers the night before and after the walk and arranged to be dropped off at the starting point, Te Paki Stream, and to be picked up at Spirits Bay, 48km by foot away, three days later. As the operator said - "pay us when we pick you up, that way you will be sure we will come and get you". If our brief walk along the beach at Waipoua renewed a taste for coastal walking, the Cape Reinga Walkway was to provide the full banquet with long beaches, large dunes, cliffs, inlets, lagoons, sandy coves and a variety of vegetation and wildlife.

Busload of day-trippers wheeling in from the 90 Mile Beach

The track over Cape Maria van Diemen led up into the fore dunes and on to a long undulating climb through a section of low heathland, each rise revealing more incredible views on all sides.

On the seaward side the stark cliffs of the cape and Motuopao Island stood out against the cobalt blue of the sea, while inland the green of cattle-grazed kikuyu pastures contrasted to the pale yellow of the dunes.

Ahead lay the imposing sandy outline of Herati Hill. We left the heath and followed the vague track across sand, clay pans and stony outcrops, up and around the hill, before descending down again to Te Werahi Beach.

Leaving the cape behind, we turned east along a rugged coastline that had once been farmed. The path descended down a mown kikuyu track, through regenerating bush of manuka, flax and cabbage trees. As we descended a narrow ridge toward the beautiful inlet of Sandy Bay, the deep blue of the Pacific provided a brilliant backdrop to the green-clad cliffs leading away from the cape.

A final sharp rocky descent saw us on the beach, where we stopped for a bite to eat and a rest in the shade of an old Pohutukawa tree.

It had been a shorter day's walk than yesterday, giving us a few hours to relax, sit once again in the shade of a Pohutukawa tree and watch the surfers at play and the aerial and high-diving genius of a gannet as it hunted fish in the bay. The antics of the possums as they rustled in and around our campsite during the night were less appreciated.

The air was still, apart from the occasional perfumed waft from the pink and white manuka blossoms. Hoverflies and the odd golden-winged dragonfly zipped to and fro as we passed by to a background pittering from the miscellany of small brown birds and the occasional drone of an errant blowfly. It was definitely spring in the north of New Zealand.

Inland, the views from the ridge opened out over the bush-clad hills to the distant sand dunes that we had crossed two days earlier, while towards the coast, the long white strip of curving sand defined our intended path along Spirits Bay.

The farm track led us to an old disused four wheel drive route, that wended slowly down to Pandora Beach, a magnificently secluded stretch of white sand, framed by the hills and cliffs of Te Paki Reserve and lapped by the crysal clear blue-green waters of the Pacific. There are not many beaches which insist that you to take your gear off and go in for a swim. This one did and I obliged, albeit very briefly in the 15ºC water. After lunch under the obligatory Pohukutawa tree, we headed on with some regret - this was the most beautiful beach we had yet visited in New Zealand.

Old man Pohutukawa at the mouth of Waitohoro Lagoon

Low tide in the morning means high tide in the afternoon, and our beach route out of Pandora was blocked, meaning a slighty tiresome walk up and over the gorse-infested headland to its east.

Coming back down to the beach at Waitohoro Inlet, we fould ourselves at the last stage of our walk; a 7 kilometre walk along a hot exposed track just behind the sand dunes of Spirits Bay and following the shoreline of the Waitohoro Lagoon.

The sound of the surf and the call of the isolated beach was too great, however, and we soon crossed over the dunes to stroll once again in auto-pilot along a stretch of wave-washed sand.

How different Spirits Bay was to the 90 Mile Beach. No broad, flat hard sand beach here, moreso a steeply-sloping, shell-gritty sand, where the breaking waves were absorbed by the coarse, steep beach before they had a chance to roll back into the seas; a wild, yet strangely serene place.

Another couple of kilometres and we found ourselves at Spirits Bay campground, our pick up point. After the long sun-drenched walk from Pandora, and with an hour to spare, it was good to lie down in the shade, relax and reflect upon the great coastal landscapes through which we had passed. Yes, you guessed, it was under the shade of a Pohutukawa tree.

Leave only footprints

New Zealand has 9 "Great Walks", but only two of these have any real coastal element to them, strange for an island nation with an immense and beautiful coastline. This walk has everything required of a Great Walk, a variety of brilliant landscapes, beaches, cliffs, inlets, ridges, sand, heath, bush, plus fitness-challenging climbs, and would compliment the others with its primarily coastal setting. I hereby nominate the Cape Reinga Coastal Walkway to be the tenth Great Walk of New Zealand.

On second thought, I withdraw that nomination - if it is successful, they will only put the price up.