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)