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Published: December 13th 2008
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Big Kauri Trees
Our van looks like a toy car. Another “End of the Road”
December 12, 2008
I don’t know why we feel compelled to do these things! We left our lovely Kauri Forest camp this morning to drive as far north as one can drive in New Zealand. But first, we had to stop in Waipoua Forest and pay homage to Tane Majuta, the biggest Kauri tree in the world. He has a nice place not far from the road. He certainly is big and impressive and is over 2000 years old. That’s a long time to stand in one spot.
While waiting for the ferry in Rawene we chatted with the locals over coffee and bought a Kauri bowl that had been made by a 92 year old guy named Tom Hanks. After the pleasant 35 minute ferry ride across Hokianga Harbor we drove two and a half more hours and arrived at Cape Reinga, the end of the road for the North Island. Joe is chiming in now with Cape Reinga coordinates: S 34 degrees 25 minutes .805 seconds, E 172 degrees 40 minutes 933 seconds. (He gets into this GPS stuff.) It’s pretty country and you can look out and
see where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean. They say in rough weather it can get rough where the two join. The Maori believe that this is the place where their souls depart the earth. There is a poignant passageway with Maori symbols at the top of the cliff that one walks under to enter the path down to the lighthouse. I was relieved that my soul stayed with me for the return trip. Anyway, I hope it did.
We are now at the Bay of Islands, ranked #3 behind Milford and Doubtful Sounds on the Kiwi “Must See” list. We are in Haruru Falls at the Panorama Resort. It’s nice but kind of cheesy. There are waterfalls that we see from our van that are lighted at night. Makes for a good night light. I hate to admit they look pretty. The lady and son at the reception desk were helpful when I told them I had no clue why we were here. At least now we’ve got a plan for tomorrow.
We bought more fresh fish today, this time gurnard, and grilled it in the camp kitchen. It was almost as good as the fish
we had last night. Our campervan is parked about ten feet from the river, and it would make for a serene setting if there wasn’t a van six feet away on our right side and the people in there have been rattling pots and pans for the last ten minutes.
A couple of tour boats have passed by our van tonight. There aren’t very many people here now, but the desk lady said that in a week when the kids get out of school for summer vacation there will be over 400 people here every night for six weeks and that they will turn away thousands. Hint: Don’t come to the Bay of Islands the last two weeks of December or in January.
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Tom Swan
non-member comment
I'll Miss your Blog
Hi guys, I see you are coming home on the 16th, and I just want to let you know how much I've enjoyed reading your blog and seeing your photos each day. I'm miss my vicarious Down Under/ NZ experience. Judy: You are a fine writer! Thanks for the fun. Tom