Day 23 Opononi, Waipoua Forest and Giant Kauri Trees

Friday October 23 is the turning day for the weather.  At least I hope it is as today was gorgeous, sunny, warm and very little wind. 

We decided that today we were going to hike in the Waipoua Forest and see the Giant Kauri Trees, some of which are around 2000 years old and one as old as 4000 years .  The Kauri Tree is the second largest tree in the world, second only to the Sequoia located in North Western US. 

Even though we had good intentions we didn't hit the road until around 11AM.  We turned south on State Hwy 12 and headed for the forest.  However a short way out of town we came an unadvertised scenic lookout so we turned in and it turned out to be a right decision.  We had a terrific view of the entrance to Hokianga Harbor and surrounding area.



Entrance to Hokianga Harbor



Coast Line and Tasman Sea

Hokianga Harbor



Tasman Sea



Pathway leading to the Point

We walked out to the point to get some of the pictures and with the nicer weather it made for a pleasant hike.  The misting in the pictures is not fog or smog.  It is sand which is blowing off the dunes.

We finished at the scenic lookout and headed to the Waipoua Forest.  The first stop was just inside the forest at the first tree which was Tane Mahuta.

Kathy is 40 feet in front of the tree.

Tane Muhata   Lord of the Forest

This tree is called the Lord of the Forest and is the largest at 51 meters (150 ft) tall.  It has a trunk girth or diameter of 13.8 meters and a trunk volume of 244.5 cubic meters. Truck volume is the density of the wood from the Trunk to the first Branch.

After taking a few pictures we hoped in the van and headed down to the main parking lot to start our hike and to view the rest of the trees. We ended up walking 4 - 5 miles up and down the various trails.  The first of the trees we came to was the Four Sisters and it was easy to see how they got their name.



The Four Sisters






















The Four Sisters



Next we came to the oldest tree in the forest.  This tree is called Te Matua Ngahere, the Father of the Forest and is estimated to be over 4000 years old. 



Te Matua Ngahere



Te Matua Ngahere is 29.9 meters high, has a trunk girth of 16.41 meters and a trunk volume of 208.1 meters.  Truly a magnificent tree.

We had to back track to get to the next part of the forest and it was quite a hike in.  It was only about 2 miles but the walk in was mostly downhill and you know what that means.  It was a heck of a walk out, but definitely worth it.  There was an area called Cathedral Grove which was a stand of some very old Kauri trees.  As individual trees they were quite stunning on their own but as a stand of trees they were extremely impressive.  I tried to take pictures but it just doesn't show the true magnitude.

Cathedral Grove

In the same part of the forest was the 7th largest tree in the area and it is called Yakas. This tree is 46.9 meters high, a trunk girth of 12.29 meters and a trunk volume of 134.2 meters.  I know numbers never lie but I thought this tree was a lot higher that the first tree which is measured at 51 meters.  In my opinion this was the most impressive of all the Kauri Trees.




Yakas - 7th largest Kauri Tree

 




















Another view of Yakas

 The entire forest was pretty impressive and again I know the camera could not do justice to what we saw.  It would have been amazing to see the forest before the logging began and decimated most of it.

Also growing in this forest was the Silver Fern, New Zealand National Emblem. I always thought that ferns were low to the ground and grew more like a flower.  The Silver Fern is actually a tree and can grow to around 15 feet.  That was the height of the biggest one I saw. 



Silver Fern - NZ National Emblem



The climb out of the forest pretty well tuckered us out so we decided to head home.  Just before we came into Opononi we came to Pakia Hill which has a picnic and parking area.  We pulled in because from here we had another magnificent view of the Harbor and Opononi. 





We arrived home just around the time our host Harry was getting his boat ready to do a little fishing.  He has promised us a feed of Snapper if they are successful tomorrow.



Good Luck Captain Harry


We relaxed for a while before having supper and calling it a day.  A very good day in Kiwi Land.