Travelling North

This morning we said goodbye to Waheke for the present and returned to a rather overcast Auckland.

Once we had fetched our hire car we started on our adventures northward. We had a fair journey ahead of us but managed a couple of stops along the way. One of these was at a place called Waipu which is where 934 settlers from Scotland made their home around the 1850's. We were not in time to see their Highland Games which are held on 1st January but had a little walk around and a cuppa.

The very pleasant cafe where we stopped for a drink was charging 15% more because it was a public holiday. Don't tell the British cafes. It might catch on!

We decided to make a detour to see some of the Kauri Coast. We quickly learnt that a short cut may not be the ideal move. We followed a beautiful and very quiet country road to soon find why it was so quiet as it changed into an unsurfaced road. The going was slow but the farmland was well worth the detour and the farmer driver kept slowing or halting for a better look at milking parlours and cattle handling systems not to mention all the cattle and sheep.

The detour to see the trees was well worth it and we enjoyed the drive through the amazing Waipoua Forest and our stop to walk the short distance to see Tane Mahuta.

This tree is named after the Maori forest god. It is the largest kauri tree alive measuring 51.5 metres high and 13.8 girth. It is thought to be a mere 1200 to 2000 years old. The boardwalk to reach it was interesting in itself with a variety of tree ferns and other foliage around and above.

I am now sat listening to the sound of the sea in our next stop for the next couple of days.