Forest & Dunes

We have taken some time to also explore the forests of New Zealand, and learned about the forestry practices here. Although we’ve seen our share of clearcuts & re-planted pine forests, we have also seen some 2000 year old stands of Kauri trees- the native tree that were once almost cut to extinction for their straight wood & useful gum sap. Two in particular are on short hikes, one called the Father of the Forest, which is pictured here with both of us in front of it. Trust me, the pictures don’t do it justice. This thing was massive! Then we also visited the “Lord of the Forest,” an even older & taller Kauri tree. Find Laura in this picture (sorry, we can't figure out how to make this photo appear vertical, anyone out there know?). The Fern Trees are huge as well, and they even have flowering palm trees called Cabbage Trees.

We were going to head away from the awesome Tasman Sea that day, but when we came around a corner on the highway we saw an amazing sight. An opening of a harbor into a quaint little town that has HUGE sand dunes! Even more amazing is the fact that for only $15 you can get a boat ride over to the dunes and they give you a nice little slippery boogie board, and you can sled down the 100 ft. vertical drop, right into the Tasman Sea! It was by far the best $15 we’ve spent yet. Eric had to tear me away from it, I would have sled down those dunes all day, especially since we had a nice, warm, sunny, clear-blue sky for it. These still shots again don’t do it justice, we have some great videos of both of us sledding down, and one in particular where Eric totally bites it!

We’re now in the Paihia, a tourist town in the Bay of Islands area. We are hoping to do an all-day sea kayaking trip tomorrow. We did just win 2 for 1 fishing trip at the local pub raffle drawing, where we were killing some time while our laundry was drying. We’ll see- we’re more the kayaking type… Stay tuned!
Love, E & L
P.S.
Avocados are incredibly cheap & everywhere around here- we bought a whole bag of 10 avos for only $3! We made a big bowl of guacamole & watched a good sunset- here's a great photo, enjoy. Lovies!
P.P.S. Thanks so much Tim for giving people the links to the maps where we've been.
P.P.P.S. Dad, temp is about 70ish on the good days.