Tokatoka, a Peak with a Point…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Now I get to see if anyone was paying attention to stuff I write here LOL…

Do you remember when I was showing you around (a little bit of) Northland that I mentioned a pointy shaped hill that was deep into the background of one of the photos?

Well…  It’s called Tokatoka Peak (sounds like the island name of the Pippy Longstocking’s South Sea Island adventures , but indeed it’s a proper Maori name).

It’s an interesting geographic feature becuase this hill looks very different depending from which side you are viewing it.

It’s not uniformly pointed in the same way that a standing bottle is pointed…

…rather there’s a ” back side” that is less steep and enables you to drive a really decent way up, and then there’s a track leading to the summit. My friend has told us that there’s a steep but fairly short walk to the top and great views to be had so it’s well worth a visit.  Her girls have been here many a time so they navigate us onto the turn-0ff road from the main highway without any problem. If you are a visitor you will probably not have a local to guide you, the hill is of course rather obvious but just for reference,  the road you need to get around to the track branches off at the building and sign in my next photos. (pity the only photo of the building I have has been taken on the side road itself looking back at the main road.)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Maybe More Adventure Than Some of Us Wanted at Kai Iwi Lakes

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Our next outing is a Kiwidutch family day trip with my friend’s kids to meet another friend and his daughter at the Kai Iwi Lakes on Northland’s Kauri Coast.

Lake Taharoa is the largest of this small group of lakes, which typical to this section of New Zealand were formed as  basic type dune lakes in consolidated sand.

A layer of impermeable ironstone pans sits beneath the consolidated sand layers and since the lakes have no natural intake or outlets, the lakes are  replenished and depleted by a cycle of  rainwater input and evaporation alone.

Lake Taharoa is New Zealand’s third largest dune lake (237ha / 585.6 acres)  and Lake Waikere  (35ha  / 86.49 acres) and Lake Kai Iwi (33ha. / 81.54 acres)  make up the popular camping and tourist area,  well known for it’s shallow edged swimming waters and easy access for recreational water sports. Our friend recommend coming here because although the water is deep in the middle of the lakes, it’s possible to walk for a considerable distance from the edges and still have the water only be knee to waist deep on an adult.

Naturally this shallow water is warmer than the deeper water further out so both these things make the lakes very attractive for  family holidays.

My friend’s girls lament the recent  loss of many of the lakeside trees when we were there but the adult  friend we met up with told us that the trees had been removed because they were not in good shape and were in grave danger of falling on tents and campers in high winds.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

At Lakes Taharoa (37 meters /121.4 feet) and Waikere (30 meters / 98.43  feet) are the deepest known dune lakes in the country… Lake Kai Iwi is considerably shallower than the other two lakes and has a maximum recorded depth of 16 metres.

The adult friend we are meeting has a jet-ski and a disk ( what our american friends know as a “tube”)  that he ties on and tows behind it.

Himself and Little Mr get in for a go but even with Little Mr safely on Himself’s lap, and both of course with life-jackets, Little Mr is still terrified because the jet-ski is goes too fast and despite hand signals to go slower there are a lot of bumps.

They come back  to shore with a sobbing Little Mr. who’s very pleased to see dry land again.  Himself thinks the jet-ski  could  have gone a lot slower… and we therefore veto my friends youngest daughter going out since we are responsible for her and her sisters today while her Mother catches up on some important business things back at the house. A small tantrum ensues but since the picnic lunch we took with us was demolished some time before the water activities commenced, we decide that it’s now an excellent moment to “discover” the ice-cream van that’s set up by the shore and wonder of wonders, this proposition smooths over  tears very quickly indeed.

I’m missing the recently departed trees a lot as it’s baking hot and there’s no shade at all by the edge of the lake,  so I take refuge in the van, have a nice rest and keep an eye on all the gear both parties have left around our vehicles.

Most of the photographs I took today were kid photo’s which for safety reasons I don’t wish to put on the internet, so here are a few I snared of the lakes themselves …

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Leaner and Greener …In Another 2000 Years?…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

We are about to leave the Waipoua Forest in New Zealand’s Northland, but first I wanted to mention that there is more than one giant Kauri to see here if you want.

Most are hidden away,  protected and left in peace (as they should be) slowly growing to their giant size somewhere within the canopy of the Waipoua.

Several of the biggest though serve as both tourist attractions and educational sites so that people can see the trees for themselves and become aware that keeping them safe and healthy is a concerted work in progress rather than just a matter of  slapping a protection order on them and hoping for the best.

I do spot that on some information boards Tane Mahuta is listed as “God of the Forest” and on others it’s translated as “Lord of the Forest” so I’m not quite sure now which one is correct. Maybe it’s one of those words in Maori that has several interpretations?

The Department of Conservation has erected numerous information boards so the visitor from near and far can learn as much about Kauri as possible when they stop off to see them.  The conservation message is a strong one… and I’m glad to see that even in the walkway, trees of all varieties have been accommodated as much as possible rather then just torn down.  One stump is a New Zealand punga, and tiny budding tree ferns are emerging from it just centimetres from the public’s feet.

It’s a nice sign that with care and careful management co-existence is very possible between mankind and nature.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

We did pull in at Te Matua Ngahere (Father of the Forest) but found out at the car park that the walk to New Zealand’s second biggest Kauri Tree takes 20 minutes each way.  Definitely out of reach for me on crutches and the two littlest kids were not enthusiastic so we ended up skipping this one, for this trip at least. I’ve seen Te Matua Nghere before too, as a teenager, it’s a shorter tree but fatter than Tane Mahuta… and it feels gigantic when you are close.

Back in the days when I first saw it school children used to link hands and try and surround it… I forget exactly how many kids it would take to make a circle around it but it was a lot… 15 or 20 or more from very vague memory. (depends entirely on the size of the kids naturally!)  Of couse from what we know now about the fragility of the Kauri root system, this practice would have long since been stopped.

Learning to live in balance with nature is something I’m interested in… of course we all want our creature comforts and modern technologies and in cities there obvious restrictions and limits but if there is a sustainable way to find the maximum balance possible then I’m willing to make  sacrifices to achieve it. Imagine if every spare green space in cities were used to grow veggies, trees or wildflowers, every new building and every building renovated were required to incorporate solar energy, rainwater catchment and brown water recycling.

I heard this week that Germany has now so far installed as many solar panels on homes and businesses nationwide that it’s the equivalent of the output of twenty nuclear power stations. It’s just the start, and Bravo Germany for taking such steps.

I hope we can become leaner and greener and can use human technology as wisely as possible so that both we and Kauri can both still be around happily co-existing in another 2000 years time.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

The REAL Lord of the Rings: Tane Mahuta, …Lord of the Forest.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Here is what we have come into the Waipoua Forest for… We come to see the giant of all Kauri:  Tane Matuta, One of New Zealand’s most famous trees.

Of course I’ve learned a lot about Kauri from the Kauri Museum, but here we have some to see the actual living specimens. An information board tells me:

Tane Mahuta,  Lord of the Forest.

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 a seed around 2000 years ago during the lifetime of  Christ.

The dimensions of Tane Mahuta are: Trunk height: 17.7 metres (58 feet). Total height: 51.5 metres (168.96 feet).  Trunk girth: 13.8 metres (45.2 feet) , Trunk volume: 244.5  cubic metres . (802.16 cubic feet).

Note: the feeding roots of Kauri are shallow and delicate. Walking off the formed protective paths and platforms can kill these giant trees.

There are many foreign tourists here of course, and one man  (white tee-shirt and grey shorts) asks if he should try and move out of the way for my photos, I tell him that he’s most welcome to be in the photo if he likes but he might therefore be on my blog on the internet. He laughs and tells me that’s not a problem and that if I want to put his name in too, then his name is Brandon Johnson (or Jackson) and that he’s from the USA.

Mea Culpa, he did tell me his surname but by the time I made my journal notes in the evening I’d forgotten if he’d said “Jackson” or “Johnson”. Brandon, if  by some chance ever you get to read this post, I’d be totally happy if you could contact me so I could put your name in here correctly.

I try and get good photos of the tree but it’s harder than it looks because fitting everything in, in the available positions on the walkway is a tall order. Not surprising of course for such a tall tree.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Looking at photographs of a 2000 year old living tree can not in any way convey the feelings you have when you are close to it in person.

Yes, people are taking photos, but many are also quiet, staring in awe and respect at the giant of nature before them. It has that effect on me too, this is the one time in my life when hugging a tree would make sense to me.

I would have given it a hug to say sorry that my human predecessors cut down so many of it’s fellow Kauri, for the way it must stand silently by as mankind depletes the resources of the planet and how we are upsetting the balance of nature round the world.  I would have hugged it to try and tell it that we are trying hard to mend our ways when it comes to protecting Kauri and show some respect now that we have learnt lessons from the past.

Of course I didn’t  hug Tane Mahuta, even notwithstanding the crutches predicament, I respect these trees enough to heed the warnings about leaving the path as not to damage their fragile root systems.

Isn’t it amazing that such a massive tree has such a fragile root system? It seems that all living things are built with a weak link somewhere in their DNA, not even the giant is invincible or immune to all around it, and that something small could have easy access to it’s most vulnerable point shows me that no living thing is ever destined for total dominance, there should always be a point of natural balance.

I know from our Kauri Museum visit that Tane Mahuta is hollow… but to what extent this is, and for how long this amazing tree will be able to support it’s upper weight appears to be for now  unknown…  a few years or a few centuries? Just like each human life,  Tane Mahuta  too has an allotted time.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Coming to Waipoua to See the Young ‘Uns…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

In this section of my New Zealand travel diary we are entering  the Waipoua Forest, located on the west coast of the upper peninsula that makes up Northland, New Zealand.

The open, cleared landscape that was once bush, burned off long ago to make room for both Maori and Pakeha  (white settler) agricultural efforts,  gives way to New Zealand native bush still in it’s former glory… it’s subtropical in this region, so with some very different species of vegetation to bush in the South Island but similar in that it consists of tightly packed trees and shrubs that form dense layers between the ground cover and the canopy.

Subtropical often means rain… and yes it’s raining buckets again as we enter this protected area which is also a National Forest.

This place is extra special because it’s the home of the Kauri tree… and even through the rain streaked windows of the van it’s easy to spot them, distinctive for their lack of branches on the lower section of the trunk, and for their therefore chunky rather top-heavy looking tops. And of course distinctive for their size.

All the Kauri’s I can see so far look like young ‘un’s … up to several hundred years old… we drive deeper into the Waipoua…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

One of the postcards I bought to send to family and friends also featured Kauri…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Today I’m Driving You Around (the Bend?)…

Today I’m giving you a photographic post to take you on a partial journey of Northland, New Zealand. (The most northerly part of the North Island).

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Small town New Zealand…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Produce the region is best known for…”Kumera” which is a type of Sweet Potato that  looks the same a regular sweet potato but tastes uniquely different. It’s very popular in New Zealand and they grow them here commercially for distribution around the country … (yes, Kumara is on my list of Kiwi favourite foods). As far as I know there appear to be two popular pronunciations of the word: “coom- a- rah” and “coom-rah”. I’m in the first group but I don’t actually know if I say it correctly or not.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Thundery (a.k.a. “painterly”) skies and moody landscapes…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

This firm had fruits and veggies on the roof of their building and a big show of All Back (New Zealand Rugby Team) Support. The Rugby World Cup took place in New Zealand in September 2011… to all New Zealand’s delight the All Black’s won!

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

In the next photograph, in the far distance (centre) you can see a very pointy hill… it’s called Tokatoka Hill , Take note…. you’ll be seeing more of it soon…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Rural weatherboard church, … and school.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Signs of local wildlife… and New Zealand’s National symbol… (kiwi are nocturnal and motorists have to be careful not to run them over)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Local wildlife … not  so national symbol…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

And then the landscape closes in… becomes denser as we near the home of something very special…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

A Posting Back in Time, …But Can I Take My Gadgets Too?

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

I’ve left the Kauri Museum, but literally right next door is a delightful little building reminiscent of  many New Zealand country town public service buildings. It’s an old post office and there’s an information board giving a little of it’s history.

Matakohe Post Office 1909-1988.

Early mail delivery was to Mangawhai, Waipu and Pahi. The Matakohe settlers had to make their own arrangments to pick up their mail fom these settlements.

Later on mail came to the Matakohe wharf, built in 1881. The first postmistress was Catherine Smith who issues mail from her home “Devon Grove”. When a store ws built at the Matakohe a small postal area was included. This was operated for a number of years until this post office was built in 1909.

The Matakohe post office was a centre of this area for the rural deliveries of Tinopai, Hukatere, Ararua, Oparakau and Parahi until 1988 when postal services were replaced by an agency.

It will come as no shock to find that I adored this place the moment I stepped inside… even though it’s sealed off behind a glass or perspex wall it reeks character, history, and I have a deep fascination with things like old ledgers, bank books, ink blotters and wooden post office boxes.

Maybe I was born in the wrong time…I’d love to have worked here, but I still adore (parts) of today’s technology… so it would have been a deal breaker  if I was unable to combine it with my laptop and the internet. (I know, I know… is there anything worse than a half hearted cold footed historian?).

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Reaching Maturity…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Amazingly even after all these posts I still haven’t covered the whole museum… there is the history of the Boarding house, more machinery, an entire hallway on New Zealand rural life, but at a certain point I’m thinking we’ve covered so much that the rest?…

… you’ll just have to come and see for yourself one day if you can. Gotta leave some surprises right?

In the meantime there’s some amazing artwork on display at the Kauri Museum … and some beautiful pieces for sale in the shop too.

This place is easily one of the highlights of our trip so far and I could happily do this all again, and again and again.

The Kauri have me in awe,  the human race has the power to cut them down physically but they in turn have the power to cut us down in a sort of emotional  and intellectual sense as their sheer size and age is dominant and inspiring.   In seeing tree rings that span two thousand years we see our own lives as puny smudges of existence in the landscape of time, and I really hope that this humbles us into trying to use our limited time as wisely as we can.

It’s traditional in New Zealand to celebrate your 21st Birthday as a very special occasion to mark your “coming of age”. Often you might be given a large key…  in wood, cardboard or some other material, to signify that you now may have your own “key to the door” and 21st Birthday cards are often in the shape of keys.  I see a carved “21st” key in the display and think it’s funny in light of being in the presence of these ancient trees that human beings think twenty-one means reaching maturity… if Kauri could speak I wonder what age wood would they set adulthood at?

… and if they could speak, with all that they could have witnessed in the 2000 year lifespan, would they think that human beings ever grew up?

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

From Tree to Table, there are Literally Ton’s of it…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

You are looking into the pages of my retrospective Journal documenting our trip to New Zealand (December 2011-January 2012)

This is Northland’s Kauri Museum… with stunning exhibits in halls that lead off halls. I’m still on crutches so taking it nice and slow, letting the others in our group race ahead. Around every corner are new finds…

An information plaque tells me that: “this boardroom table is a single slab of Kauri 15 feet long (4.57m)  and is 4 feet 6 inches (1.37m) at one end, widening to 5 feet 6 inches (1.68m) at the other.  

Both the boardroom table and lectern were commissioned in 1977  by the Chairman of Dominion Breweries and were made and carved by Brian McCurrach of Auckland.

The kauri timber came from a 1800 year old tree in Warawara Forest (Northland) and huge single slabs were taken out by helicopter.The carvings incorporate a broad spectrum of Maori art with particular influence from the carving style of the Whakatohea people of the east coast of the North Island. When Dominion Breweries moved to new premises in 1986  the set was presented by the Chief executive to the Governor General, Sir Paul Reeves for use in Government House.

In 1994 the Governor General, Dame Catherine Tizard passed the pieces onto this museum where they could be appreciated by thousands of visitors each year. The tabletop weighs more than 1 ton (1,016 kg)“

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

I’ve got mixed feelings  about this table and lectern…  they are stunning pieces to be sure,  no doubt about it …but I really had hoped that by 1977 people would have been wise enough by this time in history to have refrained from taking this 1800 year old tree out of the forest in the first place. I can only hope that maybe the tree was used because it was already dying, maybe partly hollow and clearly not going to be able to sustain it’s top weight for much longer or some such reason.

At least then it would have been clearer that  making it into a beautiful and useful item was better than let it rot on the forest floor, but since they don’t specify if the tree was healthy at the time of removal or not, I suppose we will never know.

The timber for this table might have been hauled out with a helicopter, but in times gone by loggers used more labour intensive machinery… there are rooms and rooms of it from hand cutting to the saw mill processes so if you are into working history, this is a place with bucket-loads of it. These photos are just a minuscule sample… let’s have a look.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Even wood-turning on a solid kauri workbench…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

A Treasure Chest of Inspiration…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

It’s no mystery why there was  section in the Kauri Museum that displayed household equipment (which comprised mostly kitchen and laundry items) that were made of Kauri or had Kauri incorporated into them.

I’m assuming that the other non-Kauri objects were just historical items that got added to the collection, and yes, there probably was  an information panel to explain it but I was far too busy drooling over the butter churn, butter pats, rolling pin and cast iron pots to notice any information panel by that this point.

If you are a regular reader you will know some things about me… I adore detail, I like taking photos of strange things like  letter boxes, stonework, Art Deco gutter gratings, and decorated  man-hole covers. I like drawing but haven’t been doing any for years…

I’m working on fixing that in fits and starts as time, energy and mood allow. To be honest so far that adds up to many “fits”of  good intentions and not many “”starts” to go with it. My excuse is that still on pain killers and doing intensive physio for my foot, I’ve generally used up all my concentration and energy getting through the day at work and and too tired to muster too much more at home.

I’m currently looking for inspiration  because I have set myself a task to try to learn  to draw foliage better… leaves, trees and the like. When I laid eyes on this next item the acanthus scrolls make my heart skip a beat…  Here’s what I’m adding to my arty photo files… a cash register that used to hold treasure of the fiscal kind is now a cash register  treasure trove of inspiration…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)