Auckland to Matakohe

Orewa Beach

Glorious, sunny day. Picked up hire car in Auckland, did some shopping, then headed north on Highway one. SatNav proved extremely useful, navigating us out of central Auckland. Skipped the toll section of Highway One, taking the coastal, Hibiscus Coast Highway instead. Stopped at Orewa for a picnic lunch on the beach. Really starting to chill out now. Continued on Highway One, through Warkworth and Wellsford. Rolling green and wooded countryside - a bit like the Massif Central in France. Turned west onto Highway 12 at Brynderwyn (sounds like there must have been a Welsh connection there).

Kauri Museum

Road much quieter now, beginning to feel we're off the much beaten track. More rolling hills but began to glimpse the sea again as we reached Paparoa. Turned off the highway at Matakohe and stopped at the Kauri Museum. The Guide Books had flagged this as a 'must see' museum but, even so, we were unprepared for how interesting it was. Fascinating exhibits of the history of Kauri tree logging and all the social history around it. These huge ancient trees used to cover much of the land but, sadly, over 90% have now gone. Some trees were as much as 2000 years old (yes, I mean 2000, not 200). They yielded a beautiful wood ( a wee bit like walnut) and the museum contained many examples of the beautiful furniture made out of Kauri wood.

As well as all things woody, these trees were also the source of gum. This was a resin that leaked out of the trees and became fossilised in the ground. When polished up it looks very much like amber and was much sought after both as a medium for objects d'art and as an ingredient for paints and glue and other stuff. As with the Kauri logging, gum digging is no longer carried out but the museum has a room full of gum samples and artefacts, as well as details of the history of gum diggers and gum digging.

Chilling out on the veranda

Our B&B for the night was just 7km on from Matakohe. Owned by a Kiwi/French couple, it's a lovely house, deep in the countryside, with fabulous views.  Chilled out on the veranda in the late afternoon sunshine, then had a sumptuous dinner, accompanied by the other guests in the B&B - a party of Dutch tourists. Good company and good food. A lovely evening. John is now looking at the Southern Hemisphere stars while I catch up with the blog.

Tomorrow we head further north, through the remains of the Kauri forests. Will be nice to see living trees, after those in the museum.