This was the only significant part of the north island we hadn't yet visited and one we had been assured we must not miss. Stretching 350kms. north of Auckland, it separates the Pacific Ocean from the Tasman Sea, the two oceans crashing together off Cape Reinga, New Zealand's most northerly road-accessible point.
Kiwis often describe this province as the 'Winterless North' with its palms and citrus fruits, warm waters and beaches of white silica and golden sand. It was the site of most of the early contact between Maori and European settlers, and the birthplace of New Zealand's most important document, the Treaty of Waitangi (1840).
Kauri Museum:
http://www.kauri-museum.com/
We were heading for the Bay of Islands but took a detour en route to visit this museum which we had heard so much about. We (Steve especially) have had a 'thing' about kauri trees since we arrived in New Zealand so this was a chance to get the definitive info. before going on to see the real things in the Northlands.
The kauri (agathis australis) is a type of pine which now grows only in New Zealand, though it once also grew in Australia and southeast Asia. Individual trees can live over 2000 years, reaching 50m. in height and 20m. in girth. Maoris had long used kauris to make dug-out canoes and when European loggers arrived in the mid-19th century they were first attracted to the young trees that would make perfect spars for sailing ships. Before long the bigger trees were also much in demand as they earned a reputation for being a durable, easy-to-work and unblemished wood.
If anyone had told us six months ago that we would be spending time in a museum about trees we would have said they were mad, but it has to be the best of the museums we have visited since coming here: very well laid-out, informative and user-friendly without giving too much detail to take in at any given time in the visit.
As well as showing and explaining how the trees are cut and prepared for use............
(This tree grew for 1000 years)
.........it also displays a variety of objects made from kauri wood, like this beautiful chair.....
..
......and table.
The museum is dominated by this splendid kauri staircase.
The bath below was made by an anxious husband in the late 19th century whose wife, just arrived from Britain, told him in no uncertain terms she would not be moving in with him unless the house he had found for her had a bath. He promptly had this beautiful kauri bath made for her and installed.
Outside the main museum there are a number of buildings recreating aspects of the local community in the late 19th century, like the school-room.
Ancient Kauri Kingdom:
Inevitably, a large tourist business has grown around the kauri. We visited this large shop where all manner of gorgeous furniture, arts and crafts are made and for sale. Once a defunct dairy factory, the building now houses a sawmill, cutting and shaping huge peat-preserved kauri logs hauled out of swamps where they have lain for between 30,000 and 50,000 years.
The centre-piece of the shop is this 50-tonne internal circular staircase carved out of the largest piece of swamp kauri ever unearthed, three and a half metres in diameter.
You can see more about the shop on its website: http://www.ancientkauri.co.nz/
Puketi Kauri Forest:
It's not all commercialism, though. We also visited the Puketi Kauri Forest which covers 15,000 hectares, including 7,000 hectares of New Zealand's largest kauri trees, one of the largest continuous tracts of kauri forest in the north.
We walked along the Manginangina scenic walk and saw these magnificent trees.
The sheer height of the trees is amazing. They seem to go up to the sky forever.
And the largest trees are not just tall but also have a huge girth (about 3m).
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