Waipoua Forest

The closest backpackers I could find to the Waipoua Kauri Forest was in a little town about 20 minutes north called Omapere. The place was called Globetrekkers  Lodge and, so far, it has been one of my favorite backpackers we have stayed in. We got a double room, so we didn't share with anyone, and the room decor was rustic and cozy but not run down. The woman that ran the place was super sweet and she could talk all day! She knew a lot about the area and gave us a lot of useful information. The Lodge itself was also rustic and cozy. The kitchen was clean with plenty of utensils (including cast iron pans!) and the living room had a telescope, binoculars, and all kinds of books. They had the two main guide books for NZ--Lonely Planet and Rough Guide--which I poured through in order to get some ideas together for our South Island travels. Anywho, it was a nice little backpackers and a great place to stay that night as there was torrential wind and rain! 

But, before the rain came, we were able to make it down and do the walks through the Waipoua Kauri Forest--the forest with the highest concentration of Kauri (pronounced Cow-Ri) in New Zealand ( though they only make up %15 of plant species in the forest). 

Before we went there though, on the suggestion of the owner, we stopped at a nice waterfall near the lodge. We gave a ride to an Irish girl who was heading in the same direction and wanted to do the 2 1/2 walk around the waterfall rather than just the 10 minute one John and I were doing. Turns out she knew some of John and his brother's friends from boarding school. Small world. 

We also stopped and got some stuff for dinner from the only store in town--so it carried everything from vegetables and meat, to toiletries, to tractor parts. Small towns, you've got to have an "everything" store. 

As I mentioned before, Kauri trees used to dominate the South Island, as they were very robust and one tree contained a lot of timber. They were slowly threatened for their timber and gum, but now they are fiercely protected. One tree stands out among them--the oldest and largest Kauri tree in New Zealand--Tane Mahuta (or "Lord of the Forest".)

Here is what the information panel said: 

You are in the presence of one of the most ancient of Trees.

In Maori Cosmology, Tane is the son of Ranginui, the sky father, and Papatuanuku, the earth mother. Tane tore his parents apart, breaking their primal embrace, to bring light, space, and air and allowing life to flourish.

Tane is the life giver. All living creatures are his children. This is the largest living Kauri tree in New Zealand. It is difficult to accurately estimate the age of Tane Mahuta, but it may be that Tane Mahuta sprang from seed around 2,000 years ago during the time of Christ. 

The dimensions of Tane Mahuta (converted into feet from meters for you guys):

Trunk height: 58 feet

Total Height: 169 feet

Trunk Girth (circumference): 45 feet

Trunk volume (total amount of wood): 800 feet

He is a big guy!

Next we went on to see some of the other notable Kauri trees in the forest.

We saw Yakas, the 7th largest tree in New Zealand:

Just to give you some perspective about how big they are, here is a picture of John standing right in front of one holding out his arms:

We also passed by a very beautiful grove of younger Kauri trees, known as Cathedral Grove:

Finally we saw the 2nd largest Kauri tree, named Te Matua Ngahere:

We made it back to the backpackers before the skies opened up. The weather had been great for us since the Coromandel, but our luck would only last so long.

Apparently, that night in the hostel (after John and I had gone to bed), a random and very tense Maori woman showed up in the kitchen looking for a phone. As there were no landlines, they directed her to the office where she proceeded to bang on the door and then punch through a window. The cops were called, but by the time they showed up she had fled. I didn't hear a peep of this the night before! Crazy!

Anyways, our tour of Northland had come to an end. It was off to our least favorite city for a stopover--Auckland.