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| (PIC) - Ancient Tane Mahuta..... |
Blog 13 - The 'big tree' and the drive to the
Coromandel.
Going south from our evening stay at the Lighthouse Motel we travel only a short distance down the valley on highway 12 to visit 'the big tree' in the
Waipoua Forest. The
Maori name is
Tane Mahuta meaning
Lord of the Forest).
Now this is a tree and a half, forget the average Kauri - this is big beauty! Just think about the dimensions of the biggest kauri tree in New Zealand. Total tree height is 150ft. The actual trunk length measures 60ft and the girth is 45ft measured at human chest height around 5ft from the ground. Its reckoned to be between 1500 and 2000 years old and is still growing! Big as it is its surface roots are very sensitive and all visitors must stay on the viewing platform paths to prevent disease spreading. Standing looking at this awesome sight reminds me yet again that nature just cannot simply have evolved but surely lovingly created by a
super being well above the human range of intellect and understanding.
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| (PIC Image) - Kaka Parrot info.... |
The forests in this region are an amazing sight - The rare native
kaka parrot and
kakariki (parakeet) are protected here, being so close to extinction. Native birds like the green and bronze feathered
kukupa pidgeon and their noisy beating of wings can be heard. The only surviving NZ native owl lives here the
More Pork. its called that because of its distinctive call "morepork morepork" its true honest. There are over 300 species of trees, shrubs and fern in this haven of nature. 30 are living happily on the ancient kauri
Tane Mahuta alone.
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| (PIC) - Forest walkway.... |
At another neighbouring forest just a mile or so down the road at
Trounson Park the
land is a complex mosaic of vegetation developed over thousands of years, now sadly threatened by modern living and vermin. Possum, stoat, even feral cats are prowling here, over 22,000 tons of forest habitat are consumed each night in this huge forest alone. Culling through shooting and laying poison is in place to preserve vegetation for the survival of the forests and their wildlife. We have to wash our shoes and hands even to enter, such is the desire to keep out alien bugs and to protect further this unique haven.
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| (PIC image) - The wild NZ Kiwi..... |
The wild
Kiwi roam here, they have two powerful legs and a loud voice but interestingly enough the domestic dog is their biggest predator. There are many reports of dogs killing kiwi and rangers are prepared to 'shoot on sight' so do not bring your dog anywhere near these kauri forests. The Kiwi is a nice wee bird, two large eggs each year, the Dad sits on the egg for three months to incubate them (I told you us men were useful!).
The parents never feed the young, they lead them to the worms and the
Weta beetle and off they go, munch munch munching from birth. They just
polish it off (there is a subtle joke there if you understand DKT's sense of humour!
The noise of the
Cicada (tree cricket) in this forest is almost deafening. a high pitched 'click click click', these little creatures are rubbing their back legs together. I would just get blisters if I tried that! It's the males that do all the noise as they are looking to attract the female, see just one click of the finger or in this case the back leg and the ladies come running. Its all that fresh air, it must be.
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| (PIC insert) - The giant Weta...... |
The
Weta is a ancient
Prehistoric spider with ears in their knees, that must give them a big fright when they kneel down! They can grow up to 4 inches and weigh 30 to 50 grams (the picture is the
Weta Punga meaning 'god of ugly things'). I am
not holding the carrot believe me! This is the worlds largest insect or so I am told.
Weta is also a destination we are heading for later down
Wellington way (Lord of the Rings fans listen up!
In the streams of this forest the indigenous fish are very shy, they only swim at night, well that's what the sign said, I had no idea some fish only swam at night. I knew some eels did, but not stream fish.
It was then time for the long drive south down highway 12 and 16 around the huge inlet on the west coast which virtually cuts the country in half north of
Auckland. We took this road to complete our anti clockwise trip to the Northlands preferring not to repeat the journey we took on the first day on highway 1 (one) when we travelled in the other direction.
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(PIC) - Sally's Sister doing well
stuck to a tree - (dream on!!)...... |
We missed out stopping at the well renowned Kauri Museum at
Paparoa for we had seen the big trees in the flesh but we did have to stop and replace a couple of Sally Subaru's headlight bulbs at a very friendly garage near
Dargaville. She is going well our 'rent a dent' lady, just a few niggles.
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| (PIC) - Road trip to the Coromandel.... |
The route was really interesting with varied changes in landscape, hillside flat meadow land and very good views of the inlet. We eventually rejoined Highway1 and by-passed west
Auckland on the motorway. It was a very good trip with traffic lighter than expected and we made good headway, chugging away at 60mph. We turned east near
Papakura and headed for
Clevedon and the coast route 25 around the Firth of Thames Bay. There were some very hilly sharp bends with great views. Sally struggled a bit as our long day was beginning to get dark - Good job we changed those headlight bulbs!
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| (PIC) - Our Thames B&B..... |
We eventually arrived at the old gold rush town of
Thames. Our B&B was a beautiful Victorian house lovingly restored by our hosts who owned the local garage. We were made very welcome and given a glass of wine to wash away the travel dust.
Tomorrow we start to find out more about the gold rush of the mid 19c that made this region so popular for European settlers. We are also going in search of the
hot water beach, we are in the land of bubbling thermal waters and to dig out your own spa bath in the sand is a 'must do' for the traveller to NZ - but for now it is sleep
DKT
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