17 Dec 2010 – Auckland to Russell

We awoke this morning to rain – still not complaining but it did mean we had to think about what we were going to do today.  We know that we are going to travel further north and visit the Waipoua Kauri Forest to check out the giant Kauri trees.   This involved driving only about 110 km so in a sense it should be a short day.   We considered staying at the campsite in the park but since we arrived at the campsite by 11:00 am it seemed early to decide.  Plus the weather still called for rain.

So we decided to postpone our decision until after we had a look at the trees.  There were 2 different trails that would take us to the giant trees.  The first trail was a longer trail (about 2 hours return) that gave us views of the several trees.  In particular we got to see the 2^nd largest tree in the forest.

We also got to walk around the Four Sisters.

Then we had a chance to get close and personal with a tree called Yaki.

This gave us a chance to have a close look at the patterns found in the bark and on fungi growing on the bark. 

Then we walked by Cathedral Grove, a grouping of trees.

When we drove into the parking area of this trail we found a sign indicating that due to the number of vehicle breakins, there was a park staff person sitting in the parking lot.  To help with costs all parking was charged $2.00.  Then as we started on the trail we found a sign that instructed us to clean our shoe soles with water and brush.   Very careful in this forest since as we returned to the parking lot from the trail we had to clean the shoes again.  It did seem funny to clean the shoes since the entire time we walked the trail it was raining.  Even with the rain (we had taken our coats and umbrella) we were really hot with walking.  The coats really were not needed.

After we followed this trail we drove down the road to the next trail to go find the largest tree in the forest.  This tree is very close to the road so it is a short trail which was good since as we arrived the rain started to pelt down.  We left the coats in the car and took only the umbrellas and on the rush to the tree for pictures we started to talk to a couple (Julien is from France and Dora is from Hungry but they live together in Milan Italy).  It was not long before we were chatting about our plans for next spring and Julien offered to provide us with some suggestions which is greatly appreciated.  We now have their email and we will be in touch.  They are really nice people to have met.

The tree is really impressive but very hard to get a size perspective.  Trust me, it is HUGE.

At Julien’s suggestion we drove down the road about to a small town café (about 10 km) and we stopped in for a late lunch.  I had a excellent homemade soup called kūmara (sweet potato) and Wes enjoyed his first New Zealand egg and bacon pie.  Both of us  really enjoyed our meal.  What we are noticing today is that the rain is virtually continual with some very short break followed by a down pour and then tapering to a drizzle.  We have been informed that for the past 6 weeks this region has had no rain and they were looking at a drought.   So we are not getting any sympathy. 

One sight that was very interesting was the island that looked like a huge pile of sand. 

Except maybe for the two bicyclists we chatted with during lunch.  They have cycled up from Auckland to the furthest northern tip of New Zealand and were on their way home. They will complete a total of 630 km when they get home.  But the rain was not great although they agreed it kept them cool.

We arrived at the ferry to get across the bay to Russell.  Russell, formerly known as Kororareka, was the first permanent European settlement and sea port in New Zealand. It is situated in the Bay of Islands, in the far north of the North Island.  It also is known as the first capital of New Zealand.

We checked into the campsite and discussed if we were going to book a boat tour of the Bay of Islands, but both feel that it would be a waste if it is raining, which is the forecast.  So we have not booked anything but will decide in the morning.

We learned that there is a rare bird living in this campgrounds area and we were fortunate enough to see some Wekas. Wekas, or woodhens, are members of the rail family which are mainly aquatic birds, all capable of swimming well. Apart from the Pukeko and Weka, rails are secretive birds, usually found skulking in freshwater swamps and estuarine mangroves and reedbeds. Rails have slim bodies that help them move through dense vegetation, moderately long powerful legs with long unwebbed toes that help them walk through wetlands, and a short tail which is flicked up and down as they walk or swim. The rails are ground based birds that seem unwilling to fly and some, like the Weka and the Takahe, have the lost the ability to fly at all.