Yha Ahipara

... br><br>In Awainui hielten wir noch beim Ancient Kauri Kingdom an. In diesem Laden wird Kauriholz verkauft. Kauribaeume wurden frueher von den Maori fuer ihre Kajaks benutzt. Europaeische Siedler holzten sie dann vermehrt ab, um sie in Moebelstuecke und Haeuser zu verwandeln und ausserdem das Harz "zu ernten", welches in Lacke und Oele eingearbeitet wurde. Das ging so lange, bis der Kauribaum vom Aussterben bedroht war. Seitdem steht er unter ...

... Holzboden und viel gruenem Garten drumherum (ist schliesslich subtropisch hier oben), Blick aufs Meer und nur einmal die spaerlich befahrene Strasse ueberquert bis man am Strand ist. Riesenduenen zum Sandboarden nur eine halbe Stunde entfernt. Herrlich!<br>Am Mittwoch habe ich mich einer Tour angeschlossen, die uns 10 Touris zum Cape Reinga befoerdert hat. Auf dem Hinweg sind wir den 90 mile beach entlang gefahren, der auch das Praedikat 'besonders wertvoll' von mir ...

... along the track with Taffri showing us interesting plants along the way. We soon found out his love for rugby and all of a sudden the conversation about nature turned to sport. In no time at all Taffri asked us to stop as we were just around the corner from the second biggest but oldest Kauri in the world. Taffri called out to the tree in Maori I suppose as a mark of respect to tell it we were there. He told us to follow him but to not look up until we were right in front of the tree ...

... top! We also made a trip out to Smugglers Cove and Breams Bay, a white sand beach with rocks and crashing waves. It was only an hour trek or so and we got chased out at the end of the day by a bunch of cows eyeing us down. Cows are everywhere around here, on top of cliffs, perched on the side of huge hills... so random, but quite agile animals! After five days or so we started to get worried that we may not have a ton of time to cover the rest of the north ...

... down was daunting as you have more trouble getting a foot hold. But we managed it with out getting anything broken. The Smell out in the bush was so fresh with everything wet and moist but, it was very humid like being in a Sauna. Good news here as well they have found the Car again and the Police have it now so should be the end of it now!!!!! Going to see the Lion Man at the Zion Wildlife Park to day and the moving on to Waipo Cove for my birhday tomorrow.

... the ships to be transported to the mills. Though not all made the journey downstream successfully and apparently there are still millions of dollars worth of timber at the bottom of the river, still in good condition, waiting for someone to figure out how to get them up. The growth rates of these giants is extremely slow. To see the size of the seed, then the plant at 3months, 3years getting larger the further we walked till we reached the father of the forest, 3000 year ...

... that's about 4 pounds!) so that we might actually have a xmas present each. I wander around a second hand shop where the owner blatantly hates children, according to the signs, and make the mistake of commenting on his very nice looking classic car. I just thought it looked nice, i don't know anything about them. The next thing I know he's inviting me in for coffee and telling me about his sister that he hasn't seen for 36 years and that ...

... they'll buy something - I couldn't do his job. * Went Sand boarding on big dunes - fun, bit scary and very hard work getting up the dune! * Stood on the northern tip where the pacific ocean meets the Tasman sea or possibly the other way round. People looked for the 'line' and I though its just a social construct its ...

... there were shells that had nor yet been broken. I felt sad walking up though this part of the beach for each step broke numerous shells and there's nothing you can do about it. You had to pass through to get to the bathroom. After we left the beach we reached Kaitaia and found our Hostel. It's a big place with nice rooms. The washrooms and showers are located outside your room so whenever you near to use such facilities you needed to go outside. It wasn't so back ...

... haben wir es dann aber doch geschafft, wir waren am Cape Reinga. Ich war total fasziniert, ich war tatsaechlich an der noerdlichsten Spitze Neuseelands!! Aber schaut euch einfach die Bilder an, dann versteht ihr was ich meine!! Danach fuhren wir wieder suedlich und nach einem kurzen Stop in der Spirits Bay (wunderschoener Sandstrand mit tuerkisblauem Wasser) kamen irgendwann zum Ninety Mile Beach. Da war es auch total faszinierend ...