On a grass runway, the tiny propeller plane is ready for take-off.
Before his three passengers start to board the Cessna, Jeremy the pilot shows them a map and the flight route he is planning.
"We're starting here in Kerikeri, which is the largest town in the Bay of Islands," he says, pointing to the spot.
Kerikeri is about three hours' drive north of Auckland, located on New Zealand's North Island.
"We're first going to fly a bit of a curve so that up there you can get a view of the landscape and its 144 islands. Then we'll head to north of the island."
The passengers get on board and fasten their seat belts, with Jeremy advising them to have their cameras ready.
He starts the motor, revs it up so that the plane is vibrating and then the plane starts off with a jolt when he releases his foot from the brake.
The tiny Cessna bounces along the grass runway before quickly going airborne and rising steeply.
"Over there you see the start of Ninety Mile Beach," he says, pointing westward, while the passengers listen via headsets.
The name of New Zealand's longest beach does not quite correspond to reality, for in fact it is only 89 kilometres long.
Originally, seafarer and explorer James Cook named the remote seaside strip the Desert Coast.
The beach is up to 200 metres wide before it gives way to sand dunes.
Civilisation is nowhere to be seen - until one of the passengers spots some tyre tracks in the sand.
"Yes, you can drive cars on the beach, but it's not advisable," Jeremy says.
"All the time, cars get stuck in the sand and tow trucks won't go there. Sometimes the ocean carries the cars away."
Soon, the Cessna is starting its descent to land on the first stopover.
A van is waiting to take the group to the northernmost tip of the North Island.
A white lighthouse stands watch atop the wave-battered cliffs of Cape Reinga.
A sign points the directions: 18,029 kilometres to London, and just 6211 kilometres to the South Pole.
The cliffs at the tip of North Island are hallowed ground to New Zealand's first inhabitants, the Maori.
They believe that the souls of the dead travelled to Cape Reinga via Ninety Mile Beach.
At Cape Reinga, so the Maoris believed, the souls travelled under the sea to return to the Maoris' original Polynesian home, Hawaiiki- A-Nui.
On Three Kings Island, on the horizon, the dead went ashore to cast one last glance at New Zealand before saying farewell forever.
The name Reinga derives from the full Maori term for the area, "Te Rerenga Wairua" that means "the leaping place of spirits."
Mindful that leaping should be postponed as long as possible, the tourists can enjoy life with hikes to such picture-perfect beaches as Werahi Beach or to nearby Cape van Diemen.
A big picnic lunch is awaiting the group in an isolated bay.
After that, the travellers head to the Giant Sand Dunes, which have been carved by the wind into phantasmagorical shapes. The area resembles a desert.
Everyone is given a sandboard and then they climb the steepest of the roughly 150-metre-tall dunes.
Once at the top, it's time for sliding back down - the daredevils on their stomachs, the more cautious in a sitting position.
Soon, it's time to return to the tiny Cessna.
The round trip from Kerikeri and back is one of New Zealand's greatest days out.
Source: AAP
