Paihia to Auckland

Picking up where we left off, we journeyed across the top of Northland to the Waipoua Kauri Forest. It was here that we did several short walks to see the enormous kauri trees, which are a type of pine apparently. First up was the God of the Forest, which is the largest kauri and estimated at about 1500 years old. It was just amazing to see a tree completely fill your view! Nothing prepares you for it.

We also saw the second largest kauri (Father of the Forest), festoones with epiphytes and even wider, though not as tall, the Four Sisters (four kauri growing very close together) and the Yakas (7th largest kauri). Once we had seen all those, we drove onto the Trounson Kauri Park, which is much smaller but less touristy. We had a good amble round the trail, though none of the kauri were as old as the ones we had already seen. This park is a mainland island of forest in a sea of agricultural land, with intensive eradication of pests ongoing. This makes it a stronghold for many native birds including kiwi.

Once we had found the nearby campsite, we had a very short time indeed to eat before our nightime guided walk through the park. It was a beautiful starry night, and as soon as we had stepped onto the front lawn at the entrance to the park, our guide from the campsite - who was very knowledgeable - said she had already seen a kiwi! Well, as you can imagine, I was almost exploding with anticipation. We heard a female's hoarse grating cries, but didn't see any kiwis for a while. We all stood in the cold being silent, whilst Dad muttered about the amazing stars - priorities please! Then our first glimpse of a young male foraging on the lawn. They are so strange, looking a bit like rabbits from behind, but with a peculiar scuttling walk. Once the red-filtered (so as to diminish the disturbance) was shone on him, he quickly scarpered, but the quivering of the bushes told us he was close. We kept hearing the cracking of twigs, and then our guide said the kiwi was hiding under the bush! Needless to say, we were all amazed, and had the encounter on film!

Moving on by the trail we had traversed through the day, we were soon introduced to a large eel, which the guide had been feeding for eight years! The streams were all teaming with life, including koura, which are the native crayfish, and whose eyes glow a bright orange when a torch is shone on them. We soon encountered another two kiwi, with one large female just passing right by the boardwalk at extremely close range, seemingly oblivious to our presence. We were also shown the glowworms, which was magical, and kept hearing the screeching calls of male kiwi throughout the walk. Finally, we came across the cave wetas. These are large crickets that can jump up to 3m! They have extremely long antennae and love rotten wood, of which there was plenty about. I was fascinated, but other members of the party kept their distance!

Following the drive back to the campsite, the guide showed us her own colony of glowworms occupying the vegetated banks next to the river - so beautiful, and in greater numbers than in the park, though obviously not to Waitomo standards!

The next day we drove back down the coast to Auckland. On the way we passed by the Hokianga Harbour, which has huge expanses of white sandy beaches, and vegetated sand dunes so high they look like cliffs. We arrived at our friends the Halkyards in time for a delicious lunch and an afternoon of reminiscing. We saw 'their' beautiful beach, our first glimpses of the Sky Tower and Rangitoto Island, which we would visit the next day, and the docks where Mum departed all those years ago.