New Zealand

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We had a long journey ahead of us today so got on the road early. Shortly after setting off we realised we were a bit low on fuel. Not good when you’re out in the countryside and there aren’t many petrol stations. We had to drive back on ourselves to go to see the biggest kauri trees that we’d passed by yesterday, so we drove back through the forest starting to wonder what we’d do if we ran out of fuel. Luckily we came upon a burger van (yes they have these in NZ too!) and stopped to ask the lady there where the closest petrol station was. She told us we were only ten minutes away from town. Phew.

After filling up (very relieved), we drove back and did the short walk to the biggest tree, Tane Mahuta. We were on a tight schedule so weren’t there for long before driving five minutes down the road to do the walk to the ‘four sisters’ which is four kauri trees growing next to each other. Further round from this was the second biggest tree, which was shorter than the biggest, but actually a bit more impressive.

We got back on the road, taking a short break at a kauri shop selling furniture and wooden sculptures. Next stop was at the Kai Iwi Lakes. The weather wasn’t great and we had a long way ahead of us to Auckland so we didn’t stop for a walk.

We didn’t have time to take in any of the beaches along the coast unfortunately. Even without stopping we still we only made it into Auckland just before the motorpark office closed. The park we chose this time was close to the city as we knew we were going to meet up with Phil. We got a taxi over to his place quite late and tried to get a take away, only to find out that as it was approaching 10pm none of the shops were able to deliver. Instead the three of us went to his local curry house. We were starving but unfortunately the curry wasn’t as good as at home. The chicken wasn’t as tasty, plus they didn’t do any of the usual spicy dishes like madras and jalfrazi, but it was pretty damn good seeing as we hadn’t had proper curry for ages.

It was strange saying goodbye to Phil knowing that we aren’t giong to see him until he comes back to the UK next year (assuming he does come back!)

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Photos

Matt and Karen at the Lord of the Forest
This is NZs biggest tree at 17.5m to the first branch

The Lord of the Forest
Can you spot the person standing at the base of the tree?!

Father of the Forest
This is the second largest tree. It's wider than the largest, with a girth of 16.5m