NORTHLAND
day and couldn’t believe our luck with the weather!
After 2 days at Matai bay we reluctantly thought we’d better move on, we could have stayed there for ever but I guess we’d only seen a tiny pocket of New Zealand so far, and we figured that surely this couldn’t be the only perfect place! We drove down to Trounson Kauri Park and this drive took us through Waipoua forest which was fantastic, it also included a short ferry ride which was very pleasant and very cheap! We stopped off at the biggest Kauri tree, we also learned that the Kauri tree ranks as one of the largest trees in the world, it can live for up to 2000 years and have a girth of around 20 metres!!! They are mightily impressive trees, I guess the best way to try and describe them are fairly short but very stocky, a sort of rugby All Black of the tree world! We also learned that the forests had been decimated by surprise
After 2 days at Matai bay we reluctantly thought we’d better move on, we could have stayed there for ever but I guess we’d only seen a tiny pocket of New Zealand so far, and we figured that surely this couldn’t be the only perfect place! We drove down to Trounson Kauri Park and this drive took us through Waipoua forest which was fantastic, it also included a short ferry ride which was very pleasant and very cheap! We stopped off at the biggest Kauri tree, we also learned that the Kauri tree ranks as one of the largest trees in the world, it can live for up to 2000 years and have a girth of around 20 metres!!! They are mightily impressive trees, I guess the best way to try and describe them are fairly short but very stocky, a sort of rugby All Black of the tree world! We also learned that the forests had been decimated by surprise
surprise early European settlers, but the wood is incredibly beautiful so most felled trees were used for furniture and sailing ships. What pockets of forest remain is now protected from loggers and are very fascinating to walk around. After an afternoon of tree watching we headed to the local DOC campsite which to our delight had a kitchen and hot showers - bliss!
We decided to do the forest walk before we left the campsite and in the morning mist we heard kiwi’s for-edging around in the undergrowth, they make a sort of clicking sound, it would have been good to actually see one, but they are very elusive. The forest walk was great, the air was so fresh and the early morning light of the forest was something to remember. After our walk we headed back to Bongo for a quick breakfast before heading off. Our time was nearly up in Northland and we had really enjoyed it, we had one stop before we
We decided to do the forest walk before we left the campsite and in the morning mist we heard kiwi’s for-edging around in the undergrowth, they make a sort of clicking sound, it would have been good to actually see one, but they are very elusive. The forest walk was great, the air was so fresh and the early morning light of the forest was something to remember. After our walk we headed back to Bongo for a quick breakfast before heading off. Our time was nearly up in Northland and we had really enjoyed it, we had one stop before we