Travelling North …

Today marks the real start of the second phase of our travels. We’re picking up our hire car and setting out on out close to six week road trip around both islands. 

Our little Toyota Yaris looks pretty battered and I’m wondering whether going for the cheapest hire option may have been a mistake, but at least I don’t think we can do anything to make it look worse! 

We’re heading up to The Bay of Islands- and yet again it’s raining which does nothing to make the long journey any better. And because we want to see the Kauri forests on the west coast, our journey is even longer. 

Still, as we get further north, the rain does seen to diminish, and by the time we reach our first scenic stop, it’s little more than a light mist.  This is the Waipoua Forest, the largest remnant of the once-extensive kauri forests of northern New Zealand and is under the control of TeRoroa, the local Māori tribe. Much of the area is closed to the public, but currently, tracks run to two ‘stars’ of the forest - Te Matua Ngahere and Tane Mahatu.  

The first of these involves a forty minute return hike to see The Father of the Forest - reported to be the fattest living kauri tree with a girth of 16.4 metres, acquired during an estimated 3000 years of growth. The whole forest feels mystical and timeless, dense and dripping full of strange sounds, growths and colours, and it is indeed awe inspiring to be in the presence of a living tree that has existed for so long. 

Tane Mare, the Lord of the Forest, is the Maori forest god, the tallest kauri at 51.5 metres and possibly 2000 years old - again just humbling to see. 

From here our next planned stop is to be the fabulous coastal views of Hokianga Harbour, just as we turn east towards the other coast - but in this weather, we’re not optimistic. However, by the time we arrive, the skies have started to clear and it is just stunning. Rather than driving straight past a grey blankness, we can stop and park to walk along the headland, enjoying the magnificent coastline - dark distant headland, huge dunes, turquoise sea and rich vegetation. Here too there is a sense of mysticism, of historical significance, as it is here that the legendary Polynesian navigator Kobe is said to have landed in New Zealand for the first time in 950AD. 

Of course, this makes our journey even longer, and some ten hours after leaving our Auckland hotel, we limp into Russell, grateful that the little car ferry is so regular and efficient and our B&B so welcoming. 

I’m rapidly losing the limited ability I had to choose a main, but today I’ve gone for one of Hokianga harbour with a collage of views in extras plus the two sacred Kauri trees. 


Thank you so much for the interest shown in yesterday’s Robin White piece!