New Zealand - The North Island

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On the 20th of February, we left Tasmania for a short trip to New Zealand.  Mary had looked at jobs in New Zealand and we wanted to see what we had missed by staying in Hobart for a year instead of just six months.  We started off at Auckland on the North Island and headed north from there...              I wanted to see the great Kauri trees in the Northland Forests, so we drove up the west coast north of Dargaville to Waipoua Forest where some of the ancient trees have survived the ax. The largest, named Tane Mahuta, and the oldest, Te Matau Ngahere, kauri trees left in New Zealand are found here and they are impressive, both about 2000 years old.  This tree is typical of the giants with epiphytic growth in its crown.             Our next stop was Bay of Islands on the far northeast coast... We took a tour of the bay and its many islands.... The Bay is known for its beauty and is a tourist hot spot.   We were not disappointed The drive to the Bay of Plenty took a lot out of us, but this is what we saw when we got there!    We parked our campervan facing out to the ocean and had a resting day.  I read and slept and Mary swam and sat on the beach!  We drove south from Bay of Plenty to Rotorua and stopped at Wai-O-Tapu, a thermal area south of town. This is the Yellowstone of New Zealand and it is just as fascinating to see the pools and fumaroles there.      The drive south to Wellington from Rotorua took us past Lake Taupo, a beautiful resort area in the center of the North Island The mountains just south of Lake Taupo are snow covered even in February at the end of the summer.    We couldn't resist a photo of Mt. Doom or Mt. Ngauruhoe as it was known until recently!

For those of you who haven't seen the Haka, the traditional dance of the Moari warriors, have a look at this clip provided by the tourism web site.  The Haka gained fame in the last twenty years or so when the New Zealand rugby team used it to whip up enthusiasm during their games.  It is now danced by the team before each match.  Spontaneous enthusiasm of the swimmers at the recent Commonwealth Games resulted in a few Hakas at the swimming pool! 

We didn't dwell very much on Maori culture while we were in new Zealand. We just didn't have time and most of the areas we investigated ahead of time seemed to be awfully touristy.  Having been there, we have a much better idea of how to go back and take a better look.  Next time!  Here's the Haka link.....

http://www.newzealand.com/travel/app_templates/haka/en/index_content.html

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This site was last updated 09/04/06