Kauri Trees and Waterfalls – New Zealand Day 9

It was now Wednesday 24th October and we were awake early so made an early start.

Through the Jungle

After a breakfast of coffee and cereal in the camper we packed up and headed north along a gravel road to Waipoua Forest. The road itself was pretty interesting, a gravel track cutting through forest clad hills with the occasional house here and there. Most of the houses were hidden in the forest and only given away by the postboxes along the road. Despite being a gravel track it was fairly well used and a main connecting road in these parts. It was even on a school bus route. Once back onto a sealed road though progress was much quicker. We were still surrounded by forest much of the time but did occasionally break out into farmland. The views were spectacular and there were ‘watch out for Kiwi’ signs everywhere.

Kiwi Sign

Kiwi Sign

We drove to the Waipoua Forest Visitor Centre and cafe but arrived before it opened. We therefore wandered around for a bit and once it opened phoned Jucy to see what they could do about the gas and electricity. We were told to go to a campsite with staff on site and see if they could help. Luckily we had planned to drive across the country to from West to East today and stay overnight at a campsite just outside Paihia so we would be closer to civilisation and should be able to sort it out.

We then continued our drive though the forest along steep, winding roads. At places the forest closed in tight and it had a real jungle feel to it. The road was lined with giant Kauri trees here and we were heading towards Tāne Mahuta, The Lord of the Forest, the largest of the Kauri trees now in existence. We stopped along the way to find a geocache called ‘The Main Squeeze’, located along the road where it squeezes between two giant Kauri’s. We found the cahce easily and continued on our way.

Main Squeeze

Main Squeeze

Lord of the Forest

We arrived at Tāne Mahuta and walked the short walk to see it. It really is a huge tree and photos just don’t do it justice. Coming across it in the forest is the only way to really experience the massive nature of this plant. There really isn;t any need for such a big tree, but it’s impressive to see and well worth a quick stop if you are driving this way. Its age is unknown but is estimated to be between 1,250 and 2,500 years. It is the largest kauri known to stand today. Its Māori name means “Lord of the Forest”. According to the New Zealand Tree Register it is 45.2 m tall and has a girth of 15.44m. None of this means a thing though until you see it for real.

We only stopped here briefly and then continued on our way through the forests, and then up into the hills for some amzing views of the hill and forest scenery that this part of New Zealand has to offer.

Scenery

Scenery

Opononi

All of a sudden, the forest ends abruptly atop a hill and you are presented with a stunning view out across the Opononi Estuary to the coastline of the Tasman Sea and the sand-dunes beyond. It’s quite a shock as you round the bend and are presented with this view but well worth the drive to get to it.

Opononi Estuary

Opononi Estuary

We stopped here at a lookout point and went for a quick walk. There were a number of walks on offer here, from the 5 minute walk to the Lookout (which actually took about 15) to the slightly longer 5 day walk to the Kai Iwi Lakes – We opted for the former!

Walks

Walks

We stopped off in the town of Opononi for petrol as well and while we were there tried the gas again just in case we needed to buy a new tank of gas. Somehow, disconnecting it and reconnecting it got it working and we were in business as far as the gas in the camper van was concerned. We didn’t need a new bottle and we could cook tonight!

We continued to drive for much of the day, now heading East along State Highway 12 towards Paihia and The Bay of Islands

The Route to Paihia

The Route to Paihia

Bay of Islands

This turned out to be quite a long drive from the West Coast of New Zealand to the East Coast passing lots of avacado farms and cows as the scenery changed from highland forest to lowland farming. Once at Paihia we stopped at a supermarket and had a picnic lunch on the seafront overlooking the Bay of Islands. We wandered along the seafront and then into Paihia itself, enquired about kayak hire and then drive a short distance back out of Paihia to the Haruru Falls campsite.

 

Haruru Falls

The Haruru Falls campsite was amazing. It sites on the banks of the Waitangi River just inland from Paihia and looks out across the river to the spectacular Haruru Falls. We were the only ones on the campsite at first although we were joined by another camper later in the evening and we had the best spot. Right on the waters edge next to a sandy beach under a large cycad tree. The campsite had lovely marked out gravelled camping areas for campervans, all of which were flat with their own picnic areas. There was a free BBQ, kitchen, showers, toilets a playground and a trampoline and even free Wi-Fi, although only the first 50Mb was free which didn’t last long. At $15 per adult and $8 per child it was fairly good value as well. We plugged the camper into the electricity and it worked too. We can only surmise that last nights connection point was faulty.

This was the life, the sun was shining, the campsite was as good as it gets and we now had a fully functional camper complete with gas and electricity – All systems go! In fact, this was probably the best campsite in the whole of New Zealand. I’d rate it as the best we went to and the guest book in the kitchen was full of people rating it as the best they had seen too. Hopefully we hadn’t peaked too early.

Morgan went for a paddle and played on the beach and I donned my wetsuit and went for a gorgeous swim in the river. First heading across to the falls and swimming underneath them and then I swam downstream for a bit exploring the river. The water temperature was lovely, the water fairly clear in places and an easy swim was just what I needed after a couple of days of travelling. Anna sat in a chair on the riverbank soaking up the sun and relaxing.

Camping by the River

Camping by the River

The weather was perfect, warm sunny and still so after my swim and a play on the beach with Morgan we decided to make use of the BBQ facilities. I popped back into Paihia and a supermarket to get some burgers, sausages and rolls and soon had a delicious dinner of lamb and beef burgers, beef and cheese sausages on the go, along with salad, relish and bread rolls. All finished off with ice cream, bananas and yoghurt. We could get used to this.

It was a lovely quiet evening with the sounds of waterfall in the distance and birds in the trees. We waited for dusk when wer were told the waterfall would be lit up and went for a walk over to the falls and along the Waitanga River trail a short way to a geocache which we found in the dark. Once back at the campsite the falls were indeed lit up so I took some long exposure photos of them as kayakers explored the base of the falls in the gloom.

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Alan Cole

Alan is a Freelance Website Designer, Sports & Exercise Science Lab Technician and full time Dad & husband with far too many hobbies: Triathlete, Swimming, Cycling, Running, MTBing, Surfing, Windsurfing, SUPing, Gardening, Photography.... The list goes on.

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