Hundreds of years old

THis is a photograph of the trunk of the mature Kauri in the front corner of our place. S found a pamphlet on line about Kauri. We have a younger Kauri at the rear of the section. It has the appearance of a ricker (described in the pamphlet as like a teenager; except that it is 50 - 100 years old.

Early in their development Kauri grow rapidly tall and straight, to get their crown to the top of the forest canopy as quickly as possible. Once that has been achieved the Kauri grows in size rather than height. (Perhaps equivalent to a middleaged spread). 

Our mature Kauri has trunk diameter of about 1.5 m, which suggests that it is somewhere between 300 and 500 years old. The lower trunk is 10 - 15 m straight upwards before there are many branches, supporting a massive crown. 

The extra was taken as I ran along the upper pipeline. It shows the manukau Harbour with the channel heading out to the Tasman Sea visible in the distance.