Day 84 - Whatawhiwhi - Waipoua Kauri Forest
Trip Start
Nov 29, 2007
1
55
70
Trip End
Mar 27, 2008
Waipoua Kauri Forest,
New Zealand
Saturday, February 16, 2008
We eventually found the campsite and it is weird here. We are the only ones here and there is no office, you have to self-register, putting your fee into a little bag and posting it into a box. It's quite spooky being the only one's here, I'm not so sure I like it. As soon as we got out of the van, the mozzies's and these tiny little black bugs were onto us - biting us. It was cool too, the first thing we did was zip our trouser bottoms onto our shorts and put our fleeces on. We then set up camp, putting the side awning up because it was raining.
We went to check out the kitchen which is basic with two electric hobs, a toaster, a kettle and a fridge. We made ourselves something to eat then went off to explore. We walked through the forest and you can tell it is old, the trees are huge - they have seen some changes in their lifetime, you can bet. We were making our way to the visitors centre (which shuts and 6pm, according to the campsite noticeboard) to try to get a leaflet or map which we hope would tell us how to get to Te Matua Ngahere (translated 'father of the forest'), the tree we have come here to see. We have come a bloody long way just to see a tree - it had better be worth it. Sadly, the visitors centre was closed (it is only 5pm). Even more sadly, it teemed it down with rain on our way back to the van and we didn't have our waterproofs with us. All our clothes were damp by the time we got back, including the only warm jackets we had with us - stupid of us. It was getting dusk and the mozzie's and other bitey insects were getting insane. We sat outside under our awning for an hour, cold and damp and slightly sorry for ourselves. I felt particularly sorry for Dean as he has a steaming cold and he didn't feel (or look) well at all, poor bloke. We got into the van early because we were both cold and itching from our most recent collection of bites.
It is really creepy here in the forest. When we were sat outside, I kept seeing all kinds of things (shapes) in the dark trees which I know were just a product of my over-active imagination. Two more campers turned up but they had hidden themselves in the forest and we couldn't see them. It was absolutely pitch dark here and there was no way I was walking all the way to the toilets in the night, I squatted by the van because I was too scared and spooked to move away from it. Everytime we opened the door to go to the toilet, we could see all the mozzie's queuing up outside, waiting to come in. We had some bug spray which we kept spraying about in the van but there must have been some mutant mozzie's because we could still see and hear them buzzing about.
Dean got up in the early hours of the morning to go to the toilet and he was stood outside the van, in the pitch dark, stark naked in just his boots, having a pee when he heard a growling noise nearby. He thought he must be hearing things because of his cold, his ears were all blocked up - so he ignored it. Then he heard an even louder growling, like a snarling. No mistake this time, something was definitely there. He shot into the van like a bullet, literally with his tail between his legs, slamming the door behind him and panting with surprise and fear. I was actually asleep at the time so I wasn't there. Dean told me about it the next morning and to picture it in my head conjures up such a comical scene. It has made me laugh everytime I think about it since. We have wondered what it could possibly have been, there are no scary things here in New Zealand, no bears or even mammals really. We decided it could have possibly been a wild pig or boar maybe (or maybe an orc?)
We both had the worst night's sleep ever, there were mozzie's buzzing around our heads and biting us all night and it was a bit cold. I got more sleep than Dean who barely slept at all.
