The rolling countryside to the south of Waipoua forest is punctuated by extinct volcanoes, one of which, Tokatoka Peak, we stopped off at to climb. It was fairly steep and tough going for the over 30s but we were rewarded with good views of the wide Northern Waiuoa river and surrounding land.
Further south we visited the Kauri Museum at Matakoke. This had been somewhat over hyped by our guidebook but was a lot more interesting that you'd imagine a museum devoted to trees and the logging industry in Northland could be. The kauri trees looked big in the forest, but the logs, stumps and boards seemed enormous in the confines of the museum halls.
We stayed the night in a (very) sleepy town called Helensville. The town's restaurants are both shut on Mondays so we had to venture to nearby Parakai for my birthday meal -- the tasty steaks made it well worth the trip.
