Why wood'nt ya?

Ah, well refreshed from a fantastic nights sleep in our very quiet and ever so cosy large posh shed (so quiet you could actually hear the sheep nibbling at the grass) we continue to travel the short distance north, well just next door to the campground, the Kauri Museum.  This place explained the real stories of local pioneers through the theme of the mighty Kauri tree. Like one big celebration of all things tree-like !!

Forests covered most of the northland. The remaining stands are but 4% of what once covered an area stretching from Hamilton to the Far North. Thus an urgent need to protect some of the Kauri forests to

ensure ancient history of the Kauri tree isn't lost for the love of coffee tables.

The largest tree on record grew at the head of Tararu Creek on the Thames Coast, Coromandel, measuring a diameter of 28ft, 8.54 mtrs

Kauri gum industry, this is the gum that was originally extracted from the Kauri tree by notching the tree from the ground upwards, after 8mths the tree has bled it's sap its then ready to be chipped off. It was harvested as it was found very suitable for making varnish. At it's peak around the 1900 it employed 10,000 from many social origins. Now the industry is just a memory. Today it is used for jewellery and souvenirs. Mainly collectors items. It can be carved sculptured or polished. Every piece is a unique shape deemed to be
never cold like like stone. It's found in various colours from black to clear

Off for some tree hugging. The Tane Mahuta (god of the forest) in the Waipoua Forest is the largest known living Kauri tree. Thought to be grown from a seed stretching back around 2000 years ago. She was a
biggy with a girth of 13.77m and a total height of 51.1m! Alas we were not allowed to hug her just admire from a distance. Three quarters of the remaining kauri trees in NZ are in Waipoua Forest.

Heading further North our journey took us to the Waihou River. From Rawene we caught the Hokianga ferry across to Kohukohu. It was only a short ride but it felt great to see all the surrounding mountains, it

seemed a longtime ago that we saw such mountainous scenery as stunning as this. Already we can feel the difference between Oz and NZ. NZ has more landscape, much prettier and some how far more relaxed, calm-like.

Back on dry land at the small but perfectly formed Narrows jetty we headed for the foot of 90 mile beach (actually only 60 miles so god knows where it got his name, maybe an Ozzie named it, we know how they

like to you know exaggerate a bit) for a two night stop off at Waipapakauri (hope you're keeping up with all these names!).