Big rocks and big trees

It felt good waking up knowing we were out of Auckland and back in the countryside ready to start our exploration of Northland. Our very bare mimimal plan is to drive up the west coast and down the east. That's as far as our planning had gone before waking up today. Nick's become rather good at researching things for us while I try and keep up to date with this blog. Try being the important word. Our journey initially would take us up near the beach and then through Waipoua Forest. We set off in good time and made our first stop of the day at Tokatoka Rock. It's a huge lava plug with a 700m walking track ascending to the top to achieve 360 degree views. The track itself was muddy, as in the worst mud I think I've ever walked in. Within a metre of stepping over the fence we were wondering if this was wise but we decided to see this through. The first part was okay, it was thick mud and slippery but without too much of a gradient so it was achievable. After crossing a small field which was basically a bog we began the hard part of the climb. Luckily there was some form of foot holes in the mud and actual rocks helping with the climb as well. There were times when we had to accept that we needed to touch the ground to pull ourselves up or use the nearby trees for stability. After lots of stepping in deep muddy puddles we made the last few steep steps up to the top. It was pretty cool to be able to see our tiny little van below and spin around with nothing obstructing the view but each other. We then faced the daunting task of getting down again. We both took a fair few slips but I'm proud to say neither of us ended up on our bottoms, we were saved by grabbing trees or each other. Safely at the bottom and with two pairs of brown boots (Nick's started off as black) we continued on our way after a well deserved cup of tea. It wasn't long before we entered the forest and began driving down a very windy road. We soon entered an area that has Kauri trees which are native to New Zealand. Off this stretch of road is also the largest Kauri tree in the country so we knew we had to stop and see that. We initially drove up a very steep gravel road to what was sign posted as a lookout. After 3km climbing we were quite disappointed to discover you can't actually see much of the forest from the top. At least it gave Nick some good driving practice. We came across a walking track that takes you to see some of these huge Kauri trees and a collection of four called the Four Sisters. Rather convienniently the DOC have put in shoe cleaning stations to help stop the spread of a disease that is killing these trees. This meant we could scrap, brush and wash all that mud off from our previous climb which was rather handy. We were taken aback a little when we first came across one of these huge majestic trees. They are magnificent to look at and the sheer size of it is so impressive. The 4 sisters have since started growing even more sisters so you do wonder how tall they need to get before they can be added into the name. Further along the road we pulled into the short walk that takes you to see the biggest one of these trees called Tane Mahuta. It just so happened when we arrived so did 5 mini buses full of children aged around 10. It was entertaining to sit and watch the teachers trying to get them all through the shoe cleaning station. When most were through we joined them in the queue and after another shoe clean it wasn't long before we were stood in front of the tallest Kauri tree in NZ and it really put all the other trees to shame. It's over 50m tall and has a circumference of 13.5m. It was amazing to see and we enjoyed just standing there admiring it even with 60 kids running riot around us. Eventually the children left so we had a moment of blissfulness in front of this giant. We headed back on road and after an awkward encounter at a low cost campsite where we couldn't get up the path due to the mud spinning our tyres out we've ended up at a powered campsite on a bit of a peninsula. It's started raining and it's been predicted to rain for 3 days so I'm not sure what we will do but for now it's nice to be in a campsite with showers and have our heater going. While I showered I was listening to the couple next door trying to wash their baby. Carmel was not happy about it at all and it was quite sweet to hear them talking in French to him trying to calm him down. At one point the mum was saying "life is good Carmel, life is good" but he didn't agree or give up the crying. One negative that happened today was we killed a bird. NZ has millions of little birds, most introduced, that fly all over the road and in front of the van. Today one little chap made the wrong turn at the last minute and although he survived after taking a ride on our window screen he looked very worst for wear so Nick had to put him out of his misery with a rock. It was a sad moment and I'd love to say it'll be the last time we hit a bird but you cannot drive 10 seconds without seeing one so I highly doubt we'd be so lucky.Read more