Hugging the trees

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Sunny, soon clouding over

Today is the day to go and see the famous kauri trees, one of the wonders of the area that I've missed so far. They're on the west coast, so went out to Highway 1 yet again and then continued southwestwards on highway 12. The journey started through farmland, but after about 50km some high forested hills appeared. The road skirted around the hills and then continued westwards.

I was relying on the GPS and hadn't really looked at the map for this trip, so it was quite a surprise when I came across a large estuary - Hokianga Harbour. Stunning views inland from the entrance and also across the estuary to the large sand dunes drowning the jungle - an extension of Ninety Mile Beach from yesterday.

Continued along the road, which turned south and climbed into the hills. It turned rapidly cooler and the road became much narrower and twisty as it followed the steep hillsides. The vegetation changed to bush, and then there started to be turnings to notable kauri trees. The biggest was around 7-8m across- nothing like as big as Californian redwoods, but still amazing to see. Suprisingly, they didn;'t seem to be that tall - presumably they grow just enough to get above the canopy and then spread sideways. Found I forgot to pack any lunch and no food was available in the Northland Forest Park, so drove back down the same road, got something to eat in the village and then went back to the Bay of Islands and the tent.

Looked around the Waitangi Treaty Grounds as I passed, where the original treay between the Maoris and the British was signed in 1840. It's obviously a quiet and special place, which all the Kiwis treated with reverence. Pity that the Maori and British texts differed in a few details - it's still causing problems.

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