On
Tuesday, we cooked a massive bowl of porridge for breakfast to fend against the cold and then drove north to the small town of Kerikeri to visit an old grain Stonehouse, built in 1834 and the oldest building in New Zealand. The town is also famous for it's citrus fruit as it has a very good climate. The road into the town was dotted with many different farms all selling their fruit and so we stopped and bought some for our travels.
We headed west across the island, stopping for our picnic lunc
h at a spot overlooking the large natural Hokianga Harbour and then joined the Kauri Coast 'Scenic Drive' which took us deep into Waipoua Forest, where some of the best examples of kauri forest remaining in the country are preserved.
We visited two of the largest living kauri trees, Tane Mahuta and Te Matua Ngahere,
which were simply enormous, and the Four Sisters, four Kauri trees that have grown close to each other with a wooden walkway around. The forest was very impressive. We had our flask of tea in the car park to
warm up before heading out of the forest on a beautiful but very windy road, stopping at the Kauhi Kauri shop to pick up some souvenirs, a cheeseboard made of Kauri wood. We then drove 3 hours and had lovely views of the city
at dusk as we drove over the harbour bridge. Auckland is a beautifully positioned city. We are staying with Judith for the night to break up our journey before heading southeast tomorrow to Rotorua.
On Tuesday, we cooked a massive bowl of porridge for breakfast to fend against the cold and then drove north to the small town of Kerikeri to visit an old grain Stonehouse, built in 1834 and the oldest building in New Zealand. The town is also famous for it's citrus fruit as it has a very good climate. The road into the town was dotted with many different farms all selling their fruit and so we stopped and bought some for our travels. 
We headed west across the island, stopping for our picnic lunch at a spot overlooking the large natural Hokianga Harbour and then joined the Kauri Coast 'Scenic Drive' which took us deep into Waipoua Forest, where some of the best examples of kauri forest remaining in the country are preserved. 
We visited two of the largest living kauri trees, Tane Mahuta and Te Matua Ngahere, which were simply enormous, and the Four Sisters, four Kauri trees that have grown close to each other with a wooden walkway around. The forest was very impressive. We had our flask of tea in the car park to
warm up before heading out of the forest on a beautiful but very windy road, stopping at the Kauhi Kauri shop to pick up some souvenirs, a cheeseboard made of Kauri wood. We then drove 3 hours and had lovely views of the city at dusk as we drove over the harbour bridge. Auckland is a beautifully positioned city. We are staying with Judith for the night to break up our journey before heading southeast tomorrow to Rotorua.
