New Zealand Day 10 (9 April 2018)
After breakfast, we headed out of the city! We debated on a few options on how to spend our day, but decided we would go up to Waipoua Forest. The ride included all sorts of amazing scenery! Here’s the view from the harbor bridge, looking back toward Auckland. 
Within 10 kilometers of Auckland, it felt like we were driving in the country. You can really see how 1/3 of the country lives in Auckland. It is sometimes pricey to buy groceries and pay for entertainment. However, this place is impressive in its glory.
Just as a quick side note, I am feeling like the US should step up our game when it comes to the presentation of our money. It seems kind of sad that we only have green bills. Look at how pretty the New Zealand dollars are! On one side is a picture of an animal, while the other side has a picture of important people. There is also a see-through area of the bill.
We meandered along the way and stopped where we felt like stopping. Some of them led to little gems of towns, like the one that housed this darling church!
The view was filled with all colors of blue sky and green earth. At one point, it looked like the mountains were wearing carpets of green with palm trees posing as hair accessories for them. It was so incredible to see pine, palm, and bamboo trees all in the same small space. What was a real surprise to me was learning that they have fern trees here too! They look like a distant cousin to a palm tree.
Sometimes the landscape included gently rolling hills, other times, mountains filled with beautiful trees, and still other times included farmland. Everywhere you looked it could’ve been a scene for a painting. Even out of different sides of the car, it varied in your view.
The countryside really is something to behold. It’s hard to imagine the different types of plants all rolled up into one giant scene of beautiful nature. You can start to begin to comprehend why they decided to film the ‘Lord of the Rings’ movies in this beautiful county.
It didn’t seem like we were actually going to find the Waipoua Forest. I couldn’t find an address, but a postal code for the area, and loaded that in to the GPS. There were several windy roads with tight corners that made me feeling a little car sick. But, who has time to feel sick when there is so much to see and do?!?
We drove up to the lookout before we found the trails to go on some small hikes. Although it was a National Forest, we couldn’t find the visitor’s center, nor did one have to pay to enjoy it. Boy did we ever enjoy it!
In this lush forest, one of the highlights are seeing the Kauri trees. They are a slow growing, straight hardwood tree that has a long life span. The oldest one was around 2,000 yeas old!
And here is the second largest Kauri tree, the Te Matua Ngahere:
It’s hard to get a feel for how large it is, but they sure do feel like they are in charge of the forest!
We drove a few minutes up the road for the largest tree, Tāne Mahuta, which was alive when Jesus Christ was born!
It was well worth the effort and time to make the journey up to Waipoua Forest. From Auckland to Waipoua Forest, then to the other coast to meet back up with the highway (after several detours from our GPS), we drove approximately 600 km today.
It was a day full of beauty so stunning that there were long periods of silence in the car as we took the time to just soak in our surroundings. This trip has been incredible! Tomorrow, we are leaving Auckland for another part of the North Island. I’m excited to experience what will come next!
Within 10 kilometers of Auckland, it felt like we were driving in the country. You can really see how 1/3 of the country lives in Auckland. It is sometimes pricey to buy groceries and pay for entertainment. However, this place is impressive in its glory.
The first pit stop we made was at a quiet little beach with soft rolling waves. Everywhere you looked was peaceful. The sand was really fine and there were small shells sprinkled along the shore.
Just as a quick side note, I am feeling like the US should step up our game when it comes to the presentation of our money. It seems kind of sad that we only have green bills. Look at how pretty the New Zealand dollars are! On one side is a picture of an animal, while the other side has a picture of important people. There is also a see-through area of the bill.
We meandered along the way and stopped where we felt like stopping. Some of them led to little gems of towns, like the one that housed this darling church!
The view was filled with all colors of blue sky and green earth. At one point, it looked like the mountains were wearing carpets of green with palm trees posing as hair accessories for them. It was so incredible to see pine, palm, and bamboo trees all in the same small space. What was a real surprise to me was learning that they have fern trees here too! They look like a distant cousin to a palm tree.
Sometimes the landscape included gently rolling hills, other times, mountains filled with beautiful trees, and still other times included farmland. Everywhere you looked it could’ve been a scene for a painting. Even out of different sides of the car, it varied in your view.
The countryside really is something to behold. It’s hard to imagine the different types of plants all rolled up into one giant scene of beautiful nature. You can start to begin to comprehend why they decided to film the ‘Lord of the Rings’ movies in this beautiful county.
We stopped for a delicious lunch of fruit, yogurt, sandwiches, and great company in a place that was designed to be enjoyed. The table had a beautiful mosaic of the town where we stopped.
It didn’t seem like we were actually going to find the Waipoua Forest. I couldn’t find an address, but a postal code for the area, and loaded that in to the GPS. There were several windy roads with tight corners that made me feeling a little car sick. But, who has time to feel sick when there is so much to see and do?!?
We drove up to the lookout before we found the trails to go on some small hikes. Although it was a National Forest, we couldn’t find the visitor’s center, nor did one have to pay to enjoy it. Boy did we ever enjoy it!
In this lush forest, one of the highlights are seeing the Kauri trees. They are a slow growing, straight hardwood tree that has a long life span. The oldest one was around 2,000 yeas old!
When waking through the forest, it felt like we were walking through the Redwoods. I’m pretty convinced that they are distant cousins. Here are the four sisters:
And here is the second largest Kauri tree, the Te Matua Ngahere:
It’s hard to get a feel for how large it is, but they sure do feel like they are in charge of the forest!
When you walk in and out of the trailhead, there are washing stations to ensure your shoes aren’t tracking anything in or out of the forest. It was a little unusual, but we respected the ways of the park.
We drove a few minutes up the road for the largest tree, Tāne Mahuta, which was alive when Jesus Christ was born!
It was well worth the effort and time to make the journey up to Waipoua Forest. From Auckland to Waipoua Forest, then to the other coast to meet back up with the highway (after several detours from our GPS), we drove approximately 600 km today.
Here was the viewpoint from right before we dropped back down next to the ocean for a little while. It doesn’t seem like it could get any better as we watched the sun start to sink below the horizon!
It was a day full of beauty so stunning that there were long periods of silence in the car as we took the time to just soak in our surroundings. This trip has been incredible! Tomorrow, we are leaving Auckland for another part of the North Island. I’m excited to experience what will come next!
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