We drove from Wellsford to
Brynderwyn (sounds Welsh, doesn’t it?) along Highway 1, then switched to
Highway 12 which is also called the Kauri Coast Highway. The kauri are huge trees, hundreds and
even thousands of years old – like the redwoods in California. These magnificent trees were logged by
the colonists until near extinction, but fortunately there are still small
groves of them remaining, apparently a lot along Highway 12.
We stopped briefly at
Matakohe, a quaint town that houses the Kauri Museum – but we didn’t stop. We headed north to Dargaville, a lovely
little town full of Victorian buildings – as well as more modern structures,
but the small houses with gingerbread trim and finials as well as some of the
old commercial buildings, looking more like movie sets than well-used
structures, really were beautiful, if a bit out of place.
We headed out, back on Hwy
12, to the tiny town of Kaihu – the signage was ambiguous, so we stopped and I
went in the Kaihu Tavern to get directions. Chatted with a lovely Maori woman who gave us directions,
and we realized we were almost to the park. So we decided to have dinner at the tavern. Our new friend, Lydia, gave us the
traditional Maori greeting Haere mai (sounds like High-reh my) and we introduced
ourselves – and she introduced her son, daughter-in-law, and
granddaughter. We found out it was
Lydia’s birthday so wished her happy birthday – and told her it was our
anniversary, so she wished us a happy anniversary too! Chatted some more. She had THE most marvelous full head of
long dark grey curls, just incredible hair! Anyway, Richard and I enjoyed a nice anniversary dinner
(with the traditional double burger for him, and fish and chips for me).
Then a drive through the
forest into the DOC camp, where we’re now parked – turned in the other
direction, perpendicular to everyone else, since our vehicle is too long to
park parallel! But we’re plugged
into electricity for the first time, and we’re looking at what will happen
tomorrow. Maybe a walk through the
kauri forest to see Tane Mahuta, a kauri tree reputed to be 2000 years
old!!!!!! Maybe a night walk to
look for the kiwi birds which have been protected and nurtured and have made a
comeback in this region. Maybe
just a lazy day, if it’s rainy.
Life without a plan.
Nov. 16, 2012 – Trounson
Kauri Park, Kaitu, to Arai te Uru Reserve, Omapere,
New Zealand
The DOC camp asks for a
donation of $5 per person per night, honor system – they provide envelopes and
a drop box, and expect everyone to do the right thing. They provide flush toilets, hot
showers, lighted cooking area, and electricity for campers. And a separate area for tent camping. All for only $5 NZD – which is
equivalent to about $4 USD given the current exchange rate. We’re amazed! Our tax dollars at work!
We decided our morning
activity would be to 
hike through the kauri reserve here at Trounson – so we
went to the gate and went through the ritual of scrubbing our shoes and
spraying with fungicide – there’s some kind of fungus that is called kauri
blight, that has wiped out some of the kauris (other than the Europeans who
wiped out many of them a century or two ago). Anyway, so we scrubbed and sprayed, and wandered into the
forest, where everything seemed to be giant-sized: giant ponga ferns, huge white pines growing to some 60
meters, and then the kauri – wow, the kauri! These are HUGE!!!!
Bigger than redwoods – some are up to 16 or 18 meters across! GIANT! Enormous!!!
Unbelievably huge! We’d
walk along and there’d be a tree that we could see through the trees – but it
looked more like a stone wall than a tree, it would be so huge! And high high up!! As I said, unbelievably huge!
hike through the kauri reserve here at Trounson – so we
went to the gate and went through the ritual of scrubbing our shoes and
spraying with fungicide – there’s some kind of fungus that is called kauri
blight, that has wiped out some of the kauris (other than the Europeans who
wiped out many of them a century or two ago). Anyway, so we scrubbed and sprayed, and wandered into the
forest, where everything seemed to be giant-sized: giant ponga ferns, huge white pines growing to some 60
meters, and then the kauri – wow, the kauri! These are HUGE!!!!
Bigger than redwoods – some are up to 16 or 18 meters across! GIANT! Enormous!!!
Unbelievably huge! We’d
walk along and there’d be a tree that we could see through the trees – but it
looked more like a stone wall than a tree, it would be so huge! And high high up!! As I said, unbelievably huge!
We walked along the trails
and boardwalks, marveling at the trees and the quiet and the birdsongs, and
eventually came out down at the national park, rather than at our campground –
no idea how this happened, except that this happens to me all the time – I
follow a trail that loops around and doesn’t return to the beginning, it goes
back to somewhere else entirely.
Anyway, we walked along the road back to our campsite, figured out a
route for the day, and left.
We headed north to Katui and then up into the
Waipoua Forest, home of some of the oldest and largest known
kauri trees. I drove our behemoth
camper along the gravel road from our park back to Highway 12 (and no, I didn’t
feel like Ralph Cramden, more like Sandra Bullock in “Speed”). We entered the Waipoua Forest and,
after a stop at the info center, lunch, and a chat with the very nice lady at
the center, we headed out again.
(The lady described our travel without a plan as “Tiki touring” – we’ve
adopted that as our new phrase, we’re tiki touring the northland.) We got to the trail to Tane Mahuta,
Maori for “God of the Forest” – I crossed over the bridge, walked up the 
trail,
and on the platform encountered a group of tourists (not sure where they were
from – maybe Maori from another area?
Maybe from another Pacific island?) – but a group of maybe forty
tourists, from the 77 year old pastor to the crying baby – and mostly all
wearing matching shirts. It was
funny to watch the mothers trying to herd the little kids into family photo
groupings, all in front of this tree estimated to be 2000 years old – about as
wide across as a city bus, and who knows how tall – just an incredible
tree! I was awed by the tree,
amused by the tourists, and finally took a few photos trying to capture the
majesty of this tree. He’s more
than a tree, and I really don’t know how to explain it. But this tree was there, in that spot,
before there were human inhabitants on this island. He goes back to the time of the Greeks and Romans. If you are Christian, he goes back to
the time of Jesus. For Jews, this
tree goes back to what, the time of Rabbi Hillel? 
Shammai?
Something like that. Just
an awe-inspiring tree.NOTE: Click on the photos of this tree to get an idea of his size!!!!!!!!
I eventually pulled myself away and went back to the camper – we headed out, still along wild and windy roads, up and down hills, until we suddenly were at the coast, the west coast of the Northland. The Tasman Sea!!! We found a scenic overlook and stopped – this is Hokianga Harbour, one side rugged rocks and low bush, the other side a giant sand dune looking like a desert – and a few small towns along the harbor. We drove through Omapere, then Opononi – found the waste dump station but couldn’t quite make it work for
us – filled up on gasoline, filled up on water, had a nice dinner, and
headed back to a different scenic overlook, not quite as high up, but equally
gorgeous. Breathtakingly
beautiful. Dark wild green and
rocky around us, as we look across the aqua harbor with waves rolling in from
the sea, and we look across to the endless sandy dunes – with low peaks of
hills and mountains in the distance.
As I said, breathtakingly beautiful.We’re parked on a level spot with that view out the front of the camper. We’re the only ones here, at 9:30 PM, and we’re ready to snuggle in for a quiet night of freedom camping under the stars.
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