Kauri Forests
Trip Start
Mar 01, 2006
1
236
551
Trip End
Dec 01, 2007
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Opononi,
New Zealand
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
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I had planned to go diving the Rainbow Warrior Wreck or the Poor Knight Islands, one of the ten best dives in the world according to late Commandant Cousteau. Unfortunately the weather was bad and the forecast was no better, and anyway I still had a caugh, which is not very nice for scuba diving.
So I decided I'd better head off to Auckland, where I had internet work to do, possibly saving my last day for an excursion to the Islands near Auckland. After the night in Opononi, we drove along the west coast, stopping at the south head of the river. The weather was cloudy and windy, but quite warm. I had planned to hitchhike my way to Whangarei and then Auckland, but the road we were on did not see much traffic.
I went with the girls for a shork walk to see the giant Kauri trees. Staright trunks up to 5 meters in diameter, and over 10 meters high. These sacred trees were used by the Maori to biuld their war canoes: they would first clear vegetation around the tree, to let it exposed to wind and rain. The most exposed side would grow harder and denser, and would eventually serve as the bottom of the canoe. After a few years they would fell the tree and carve the inside. All these activities had to be done with a lot of incantations and with great respect towards nature.
Patricia and Cendrinne drove an extra hour to drop me off in Dargaville, where I got just as the bus to Whangarei was leaving. There I got another bus to Auckland, where I arrived late in the afternoon.
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