The sun was streaming in the campevan windows when we woke up, so we knew it was bound to be a good day and as we stepped outside, we were greeted by a perfect rainbow as well……it was bound to be a good day! After breakfast and showering, we were on our way to the Waipoua Forest to see the Kauri trees. The rain from last night had mostly blown away with just some light mist falling through the bright morning sun, and as we rounded a bend in the hilly, verdant countryside of the North Island, we came face to face with one of the most beautiful sites either one of us could recall. A second rainbow of the day arched over this absolutely stunning green valley with the Tasman Sea in the distance……WOW!!! As you can see, we quickly stopped to snap some pictures and it is truly a moment neither one of us will never forget.
We made it to the Waipoua Forest and learned a little more about the famous Kauri trees of the area at the visitor center. These ancient trees are all that’s left of forests that used to cover New Zealand before the arrival of man on these shores. Turns out, Kauri trees grow VERY slowly and the woman at the visitor center explained that even a tree that is thirty years old would only be up to your hip……pretty interesting. Consequently, most of the Kauri trees that are seen in the forest are young by Kauri standards - probably hundreds to maybe a thousand years old but there are just a handful of the oldest trees that are a must see due to their age and size. I hadn’t researched what a Kauri tree actually looks like and for some reason I was expecting something that looked more like the evergreen trees we see in the Northwest, but these trees look more like deciduous trees (although the woman at the visitor center didn’t think they ever lose their leaves), with very straight, sold trunks that reach quite a height before branching out. They sort of reminded me of the Bilbao trees that are found in Madagascar or, more comically, a grander version of the Keebler Elf tree. Anyway, we walked down a few different trails to see the main trees, which were The Four Sisters (an impressive stand of four ancient trees growing very close together), Te Matua Ngahere (Maori for “Father of the Forest“) and Tane Mahuta (Moari for “Lord of the Forest“). The trails were wooden walkways raised up off the forest floor, which is done to prevent people from walking on and damaging the very shallow feeding roots of the Kauri trees. To say these massive trees are impressive when you walk up to them would certainly be the understatement of the day. They‘re huge!!! Tane Mahute is estimated to be 2000 years old, the trunk height 17.7 meters, total height 51.5 meters, trunk girth 13.8 meters, trunk volume 244.5 meters. Maybe it was the fact that there was no one else around and we were surrounded by nothing more than the sounds of the forest, but to sit in the presence of such a massive, ancient living thing is humbling beyond words……it really does provide perspective on where we, as humans, stand in the natural world.
Having gotten our fill of these grand trees - although I don’t know if that’s even possible since I could have stayed there all day - we headed south towards Auckland. Since we weren’t overly impressed with the “emergency” holiday park we stayed at last night, we decided to find one closer to Auckland for our last two nights with the campervan. We remembered passing through a very picturesque town on the way up to the Waipoua Forest called Orewa Beach, so we checked and sure enough, there was a holiday park perfectly situated on the beach in the middle of town, so we decided to head down that way.
Once we got here, we were so glad we picked this spot! It’s literally right on the beach, yet still in the middle of town so it’s easy to walk to all kinds of shops and restaurants. It was pretty windy when we arrived and as we walked out to the beach, we saw a number of guys kite surfing on the waves and going pretty darn fast. Looks like fun!! Hmmm……maybe another hobby to look into down the road. Anyway, we’re here until we turn the campervan back in the 4th so we’ll see what else there is to report about this place tomorrow……
We made it to the Waipoua Forest and learned a little more about the famous Kauri trees of the area at the visitor center. These ancient trees are all that’s left of forests that used to cover New Zealand before the arrival of man on these shores. Turns out, Kauri trees grow VERY slowly and the woman at the visitor center explained that even a tree that is thirty years old would only be up to your hip……pretty interesting. Consequently, most of the Kauri trees that are seen in the forest are young by Kauri standards - probably hundreds to maybe a thousand years old but there are just a handful of the oldest trees that are a must see due to their age and size. I hadn’t researched what a Kauri tree actually looks like and for some reason I was expecting something that looked more like the evergreen trees we see in the Northwest, but these trees look more like deciduous trees (although the woman at the visitor center didn’t think they ever lose their leaves), with very straight, sold trunks that reach quite a height before branching out. They sort of reminded me of the Bilbao trees that are found in Madagascar or, more comically, a grander version of the Keebler Elf tree. Anyway, we walked down a few different trails to see the main trees, which were The Four Sisters (an impressive stand of four ancient trees growing very close together), Te Matua Ngahere (Maori for “Father of the Forest“) and Tane Mahuta (Moari for “Lord of the Forest“). The trails were wooden walkways raised up off the forest floor, which is done to prevent people from walking on and damaging the very shallow feeding roots of the Kauri trees. To say these massive trees are impressive when you walk up to them would certainly be the understatement of the day. They‘re huge!!! Tane Mahute is estimated to be 2000 years old, the trunk height 17.7 meters, total height 51.5 meters, trunk girth 13.8 meters, trunk volume 244.5 meters. Maybe it was the fact that there was no one else around and we were surrounded by nothing more than the sounds of the forest, but to sit in the presence of such a massive, ancient living thing is humbling beyond words……it really does provide perspective on where we, as humans, stand in the natural world.
Having gotten our fill of these grand trees - although I don’t know if that’s even possible since I could have stayed there all day - we headed south towards Auckland. Since we weren’t overly impressed with the “emergency” holiday park we stayed at last night, we decided to find one closer to Auckland for our last two nights with the campervan. We remembered passing through a very picturesque town on the way up to the Waipoua Forest called Orewa Beach, so we checked and sure enough, there was a holiday park perfectly situated on the beach in the middle of town, so we decided to head down that way.
Once we got here, we were so glad we picked this spot! It’s literally right on the beach, yet still in the middle of town so it’s easy to walk to all kinds of shops and restaurants. It was pretty windy when we arrived and as we walked out to the beach, we saw a number of guys kite surfing on the waves and going pretty darn fast. Looks like fun!! Hmmm……maybe another hobby to look into down the road. Anyway, we’re here until we turn the campervan back in the 4th so we’ll see what else there is to report about this place tomorrow……
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