Far North (On the North Island)

The weather forecasts called for cold and rain all week end, and neither of us was in the mood for that. Not having heat in our flat, there was little to entice us to stay home either; otherwise it might have been a good day to curl up with an easy-read book and just veg. We reasoned with each other that going north – closer to the Equator – would certainly offer the best chances for warmer temperatures (eight degrees Celsius, instead of only six). Hey, that’s a good excuse to go north, don’t you agree. Well, perhaps we were really just looking for a good reason. Any excuse will do when you’re looking for one.

We REALLY didn’t want to be wet all day, and all the signs were that if we stayed home, this is what we could expect. Diane took this picture from inside the car as we were heading north out of Takapuna. Actually, she took several dozen rainbow pictures, but I thought one was sufficient proof.

One of the first intriguing sights we came across was a group of sheep that had been dyed bright pink. They were near the roadside, probably as some kind of advertisement for the wool business that was there.

Incidentally, the pampas grass is native to NZ and is seen everywhere. It is even imprinted into the wall covering inside the NZ Temple. It looks like they cut it back here so the pink sheep would be more visible. They certainly caught our attention – but we didn’t buy any wool.

The first official stop we made was to admire a “regional attraction” – a waterfalls. It was nice, but probably not worth all of the publicity that it was given.

The water, as you can see here, was a little brown in color—from the heavy rains we’d been having.

As we approached the Tasman Sea we came upon this pretty little bay. Because of the stormy weather, there was only one lonely fisherman on the water’s edge.

In both of these pictures we are looking down from a high cliff overlooking the bay. In this picture you can see how clear the water was. This bay is known for a friendly dolphin that took up residence here. We didn’t see any dolphins, but we did see some very large fish in the clear waters.

The Tasman Sea was very rough and pretty uninviting. It is frequently referred to as the “tempestuous Tasman.” This being our first glimpse of it sealed forever, in our minds, the validity of its nick name.

What was most surprising to use was the change in the landscape. The far side of this inlet was as barren as any place I have ever seen. We concluded that it must be almost solid sandstone.

I am pretty certain that the rough seas were pretty much a result of the near gale-force winds that were blowing off of the Tasman.

What we don’t know is how often this condition exists in this locale. Most of the vegetation was listing heavily from west to east, but so were we.

As we continued our journey along the west coast of the north island, we came across this enormous tropical forest. The underbrush is as thick as the trees, so the only real hiking (tramping) that can be done is to use paths that have been made for that purpose. NZers call them “tracks.” So now you know what “tramping the track” means.

Rain or no rain, we couldn’t resist any longer. We just had to get out of the car and venture a little way into the forest. The puddles along the track were new and the leaves were still wet from a recent cloud burst. It smelled fresh and inviting. I just love these places.

The track led us to this giant Kauri tree. They are native to NZ. The forests here were once crowded with them, but indiscriminate logging all but made them extinct. They are a very hardy tree, but extremely slow growing. A twenty-five year old Kauri tree would be lucky to be five inches in diameter. This giant is almost 15 feet in diameter. But it has taken it more than 2000 years to get to this size. This tree was alive when Christ walked the streets of Judea.

While I love the forests, Diane’s favorite spots are those overlooking the rolling farm lands. The northern part of the north island is loaded with country like this. On a cloudy rainy day, it looks much like the home lands of the Englishmen who fought the Maori warriors for the rights to live here … a truce was called and a peace agreement reached before either side claimed victory.

If you look carefully, you can see some hedgerows that separate the farmlands.

A closer look reveals that these hedges are nice and trimmed. They sometime stretch for miles. Some ranches use them to separate one grazing pasture from another.

Getting still closer, you can see that these hedgerows are not your normal little hedge. They grow to 15 to 20 feet high – creating quite a distinct barrier. NZers like to mark their territory. I guess a mere fence won’t do.

A large truck could easily drive through this arch cut in the middle of the hedgerow.

This is one of the rivers we had to cross on our journey. The water was thick and soupy, like really rich chocolate milk – belying the beauty that surrounded it.

For the most part, our day was free of the rain that we wanted to escape. But as we started our return trip, the weather couldn’t hold back any longer and it started to rain. And it continued for the next five days.

I prepared a small humanitarian project request this week for a small village north of Tarawa, Kiribati. It is a village of about 500 people. They just completed erection of a community pavilion. But they have no electricity in their village at all. They light their homes with Kerosene lamps and cook over open fires.

So we will be providing a small electrical generator for their pavilion, so they can have music and lighting for their community gatherings. They will now be able to have evening activities for the youth. Having evening activities will allow working parents to attend.