James & Tracey

June 5
We drove to the Ninety Mile Beach and walked onto it for a little while, then decided as it was raining we had had enough so got back into the van.
We arrived at the Ancient Kauri Kingdom. This turned out to be a workshop and shop specialising in carving Kauri wood. The timber they use is 40-50,000 years old found in the nearby swamps. They excavate these gigantic trees and turn them into some beautiful furniture and carvings. The trees are from anything 300-1100 years old when they feel into the swamp and have been preserved ever since. The centrepiece that the shop has been built around is a piece of a 1096 year old tree that died some 40,000 years ago. The original piece excavated was 110 tonnes however, not surprisingly this was too big to cart around so they cut off a 50 tonne section placed it onto a thick bed of reinforced concrete and carved a spiral staircase up through the centre. The carving of the staircase took a total of something like 500 man hours. The staircase is really great and its gorgeous walking up the centre - I want one!

Tree Staircase

We drove to Kaitaia and went on the internet. We stopped for lunch just outside Herekino and drove towards Kohukohu to wait for the ferry to take us across the river to Rawene. When we got onto the ferry and paid the $26, the man went to the front of the van and took a small bird (a native fantail) from the front of the van (one we had hit earlier) and said he would give it the appropriate burial by lobbing it over the side!
It took a mere 15 minutes to cross the river. At the other side we drove for a couple of hours before reaching the Waipoua Forest where we stopped by the side of the road for the night.

When Trace went outside to turn the gas on, with torch in hand as there were no lights and it was pitch black. James thought it would be really funny to scare the pants off her by throwing a couple of old bananas in the bush. At this point she didn't realise it was James as she swirled round to see if a strange animal was heading towards her from the bushes, only to hear James giggling to himself out loud then she realised it was him - Not very funny!

June 6
We had heavy rain overnight which kept us awake, especially when it started to drip on us!
We drove a bit more into the forest to get to the first big tree stop. We arrived at Tane Mahuta (Lord of the Forest). It is the largest living Kauri tree in New Zealand, its apparently difficult to accurately estimate the age of the tree, but they gave it a go by saying it may have sprang from seed around 2000 years ago. The trunk height is 17.7m, with a total height of 51.5m. The trunk girth is 13.8m and trunk volume is 244.5m. So really bigger than your average tree!
The next lot of big trees was at Kauri walks. We gave a man $2 in the car park to guard our van, as apparently they have break ins around here - we guessed it was the right man as he had a clipboard!
The first part of the walk was to the Four Sisters. These are 4 trees clumped together really close. thats about all we can tell you as there wasn't a sign for this one!
We went to the next track towards Yakas, as it started to rain. Handily we had left our waterproofs in the van, as it was sunny when we started. Yakas is named after a native Dalmation bushman and gum digger, Nick Yakas. The trunk height is 12.04m with total height 43.9m. The trunk girth is 12.29m and trunk volume is 134.2m. This tree is one of the only 'big ones' that you are able to touch, and even hug.

Hug a Tree

The final walk we went on was to the second largest living Kauri tree in New Zealand, Te Matua Ngahere (Father of the Forest).The trunk height is 10.21m, Total height29.9m. Girth 16.4m (thats big!) and trunk volume 208.1m.
By the time we got back to the van it had stopped raining, it didn't matter as we were both soaked.

Yep, its Raining

We had lunch at Kai Iwi Lakes, by the biggest one Taharoa Lake which had a sandy edge.

We then headed to Katakohe, to the Kauri museum. This place goes through the history of the Kauri forest bushmen, sawmills, and the felling of the Kauri trees. It has a massive cross section of a whole Kauri tree in the middle of it. The gum room was quite disappointing as there were just a whole load of old gum, that looks a bit like amber.

We then drove for a couple more hours to find a picnic spot for the van between Warkworth and Wellsford.