Exploring New Zealand From the Left.

[luthj]

Coromandel, Part 1


Jutting north into the ocean, creating its own sea, the Coromandel Peninsula is a favorite holiday spot for the denizens of the supercity of Auckland. Thankfully, the winter weather keeps most of them away, and we made sure to visit away from school holidays!

With the mercurial weather, we decided to drive to the northern end of the peninsula.






On a lonely dirt road half way across the peninsula lies a hidden treasure. Once common across the northern island lowlands, Kauri trees covered vast swaths of Coromandel. The giants grow to truly massive sizes, living thousands of years in some cases. Their great size was their undoing. The settlers saw their broad, untapered trunk as an easy source of good timber. Over 99.9% of the old-growth Kauri were felled to feed the foreign and domestic timber markets. They were especially popular for framing houses and siding. Taking over 500 years to grow to these great sizes, they will never return to their former glory. Despite the growing demand for timber, the Kiwi’s did not start planting timber farms until the mid-20th century. After all, these forests go on forever! At least that was the sentiment at the time.

Thankfully a few isolated pockets of forest survived the carnage, and by the 1960s, the ecological impact had started to sink into the national psyche. This particular grove of giant Kauri survived due to a disagreement about a mining lease which was never worked.

The large tree on the right is about 800 years old. At about 25m (80ft) tall, it is still short by mature Kauri standards. The oldest recorded kauri was 4,000 years old at its death.


Here it is at the base. Over 1.9m (6ft) wide, the trunk barely tapers before the canopy.




These 500 old twins became joined at the “hip” when their trunks met a few hundred years ago.


One of the unique evolutionary adaptations that allow such a long life is the bark. Flaking off in thick dinner plate like scabs, it discourages even the most aggressive parasitic plants (like the rata vine). With no branches low on its trunk, the mature kauri leaves these other plants high and dry.



Fun Fact (By Jen): You may wonder why we get so excited about trees or birds here. As much as I really like those things, there isn't much else here, either. NZ doesn't have any native mammals with exception to 2 species of bats. Every fuzzy four-legged creature here is introduced by humans.

 

[luthj]

Coromandel, Part 2

We continued our exploration. Beaches and endless blue seas awaited.




Oh look, a tunnel!






A nearby beach hides a surprising secret. At low tide, two hot springs are exposed. A short dig into the sand reveals deliciously warm water.




A few brave souls dared the wind and cool temperatures to dig their own hot pool.


The view is pretty good too.


The sand does require constant upkeep though.

 

[luthj]

Last of Coromandel

By Jen.

Following Hot Water Beach, we made a trip inland to see some old mining relics. This included a 500m-long tunnel and a water race in the Broken Hills area.

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The Broken Hills.


The start of the Collins Drive tunnel.


Glowworms.


Jonathan decided to try the muddy path.

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After leaving the tunnel, we made our way to the water race. However, along the way, I dropped my phone. We both made our way back to the last point I had used it, and didn’t find it. Jonathan’s phone had reception, so we used “Where’s my phone” to activate ringing on the phone and started walking back to where I had discovered it missing. Eventually, Jonathan found it for me! I was NOT looking forward to replacing my phone if it had gotten lost forever in the gorge we were walking along.

Parts of the race still hold water.


Campsite for the night.​

The next day brought us to Martha Mine, NZ’s richest gold and silver mine. It started as an elaborate system tunnels, but is now a 250m-deep open pit. However, poor terracing and landwork has resulted in landslides and unstable ground that have had the mine closed for the last two years.

This Cornish pumphouse was built in 1903 to “dewater” the mine. In 2006, unstable ground forced them to either move it or lose it. So they moved this historic building 296m by pushing and pulling it along on top of teflon pads (the long tracks shown here).
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[luthj]

The whole area once rang with the sound of pick axes and shovels, apparently. And with the sounds of the largest quartz-ore processing plant in Australasia is just down the road. Nothing but the foundations and some steel vats remain today.







I did find 2 cats to cuddle with me for a bit until it started raining.
Then we went for a walk down Karangahake Gorge, which had some fun colors, but also boasted mining remnants.








The abandoned ruins made you feel almost like you were in another ancient civilization’s ruins, instead of something only 100 years ago.
For our last foray into the peninsula, we decided to try the Kauaeranga Kauri Trail. Despite the name, there are few kauri along the trail. It is more a walk of the remnants of the logging industry that removed the kauri from the area. The walk followed a significant chunk of a walk we did way back in the beginning, but we handled much better this time after all the mountain training we did down south.



In the months we had been gone, they had been working on some improvements to the track, including a new bridge (not yet functional).


A young kauri.


Jonathan attracted another companion for lunch.


Remnants of a pack track.


The stump of an old kauri, steaming in the humidity.


Hardly a tall tree in sight.


There was a path here.


The old railway that used to cart the behemoth trees down the steep slope.

 

[luthj]

Tiritiri Matangi Island

By Jen.

As we were researching the North Island attractions, we discovered that it also has a bird-sanctuary island that is similar to Stewart Island’s Ulva Island. With a chance to see some birds I hadn’t seen yet as well as kiwi, Jonathan and I decided to head over and spend the night at the island’s well-equipped bunkhouse. We rode the ferry to the island and as we walked up the road to the visitor centre, we were greeted by many birds.

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Red-crested parakeets, actually in the sunlight so I could get a good photo.




A whitehead, which I think is the more-common, North-Island relative of the yellowhead.


A bellbird.


A young takahe.


From the visitor centre, you can see Rangitoto and Auckland, which we visited when we first arrived in New Zealand.


A tui in bright sunlight!




At the visitor centre, they had a display of the largest wetas and their feces! These ladies are at least 3 inches long!


A tui in a beautiful, flowering native tree.
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[luthj]

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The Little Barrier Island.


The Great Barrier Island. These were named by Captain Cook, who didn’t have very much naming creativity.


The day was pleasant and the island beautiful.




A good close-up of a male saddleback!




We even saw a kokako in the wild!


Can you see it eating a leaf? That is what they eat, but it sure looks bizarre, doesn’t it?​

That evening, we went searching for kiwi, but were unsuccessful. We did manage to startle a bird hiding in some flax on a cliff. It made very strange noises. We had no idea what it was at first, but after some research we found out it was likely a grey-faced petrel.

A North Island robin.


An introduced quail.






We actually saw the secretive fernbird. This little guy almost seemed like a mouse darting through the grass. We could only track its movements by watching how the grass moved as it passed under it!




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A stitchbird in the wild!​

After we saw the weka carcasses in the visitor centre, we had been searching for some large wekas. Finally right before we were catching the ferry back to the van, someone spotted one and told us about it. Sadly, it was only a male, so not as big as it could be. But, it was still pretty cool.

 

[luthj]

Along the Coast


A nearby park had another large Kauri, so we dropped by to stand in its shadow.





With the seemingly ceaseless rain and clouds, we did our best to get out of the van whenever possible. A stop at a garden in an abandoned quarry was next up.










We drove towards the coast in the Bay of Islands area, and found a nearly empty coastal campground for the night. With all the shielded areas taken, we slept with the wind rocking the van, and torrential downpours throughout the night.

The next morning we went to fill up our water tank. After a small trickle the water stopped! In fact all the taps and faucets were dry. Apparently the power was out, and would remain that way for some time…

On the way inland to the main highway, we encountered some flooding. Rapidly receding, it would likely be gone by sunset.


Only a few half submerged cars…

 

[luthj]

With the speed of the water, I figured I should walk this section to make sure no submerged obstacles waited in the murky depths.



Thankfully it was only knee deep, although it was waist deep an hour earlier.


Our next stop was a Ruapekapeka Pa. Pa are fortified villages built by Maori tribes in strategic locations. With centuries of inter-tribal warfare, they were pretty good at it by the time the Europeans arrived.



This pa was the site of a battle between British colonial soldiers and the Maori resistance. The government abused its power to take land and concessions from the Maori. Various tribes took positions with or against the Crown depending on their previous alliances. The poorly equipped British traveled long distances across roadless forests to this Pa in order to defeat and capture the chief who was seen as a dissident leader. Despite eventually overwhelming the Pa defenders during their morning prayers, most escaped into the forest to fight another day. This is pretty amazing considering they were far outnumbered and outgunned.


The secret to their success was a excellent defense with tunnels to protect from bombardment, extensive earthworks (dug by hand over 6 months). In addition palisades several layers thick and trenches prevented frontal attack.





The recent rain turned the centuries old trenches and tunnels into ponds.

 

[luthj]

The North East Coast

By Jen.

We continued our journey to the Far North of the North Island. We visited another flooded town in the Bay of Islands. This one’s claim to fame is a public toilet designed by the architect, Hundertwasser.

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It was pretty cool, but the tiles are pretty slick when wet.



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We made our way to Paihia, but with the recent rains, the bay water looked pretty muddy.

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We made a stop at St Paul’s Church, which stands at the site of NZ’s first church. This newer church is a beautiful building with some fun stained glass.

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Nearby was the Haruharu Falls, which normally you can kayak under. Not today!

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Nearby was Kerikeri.

This the Stone Store. It is NZ’s oldest stone building (1836).
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[luthj]

Leaving the Bay of Islands area, we continued further north.

First off was Matauri Bay.




Piapia Bay.


Tauranga Bay.


St Paul’s Rock.​

We finally reached the northernmost peninsula on NZ, the Far North. Our first stop after fueling up was Gumdiggers Park. This is kinda an outdoor museum of the industry of kauri gum. Hundreds of thousands of years ago, this swampy land was dry enough to support kauri forests. At least twice in history, a cataclysmic event knocked over these trees and buried them. Now the swampy land preserves the wood and gum that was buried. And people used to dig the gum up for trade. In more recent times, they were used for making resins.

But first, an Auckland green gecko.


They are amazingly hard to find.


A rough way to live in this enviroment!



Sometimes it was a bit like panning for gold.


A gum-washing machine.


They would dig holes along the trunks of fallen trees to find the roots, where the most gum was located.


This massive root structure belongs to a tree that is approximately 14 meters in girth. The wood has been tested to be around 100,000-150,000 years old, possibly the oldest non-fossilized wood found on earth.


That vertical wood there is a more recent (45000 years ago) tree that grew up over the remnants of the earlier one.


In 2011, they unearthed this beauty, which is from 150,000 years ago.


At least all this rain provides plenty of rainbows.​

 

[luthj]

The Far North

By Jen.

We finally reached the northern tip of New Zealand! This means, from here on out we have less time left on the North Island than we have been there; the downhill stretch from here.

Cape Reinga is the northernmost tip that you can drive to on public roads. So we started off our day there.

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This is an ancient Kahika tree (similar to the pohutukawa trees) is hanging off the edge of a small island there. It has never been known to flower.




This point is where the Tasman sea (left) on the west meets the Pacific Ocean from the east (right).

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From there, we decided to check out the “Giant Sand Dunes” we saw advertised on the way up to Cape Reinga. It had been raining a lot recently and the river was overflowing. More rain was on the way, so we decided not to walk to the dunes.

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From here, we tried to head up to the Surville Cliffs, the actual northernmost point in NZ, but found out that the road that leads to it is private property and doesn’t allow visitors. With the poor weather, we didn’t want to walk or kayak, so we decided to detour to Te Hapua, a town in a nearby harbor, from which we could see the white-sand dunes of Great Exhibition Bay.

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A little Christian Church on the highway on our way back southwards.​

From there, we traveled back down the peninsula, heading towards Shipwreck Bay before touring down the Kauri Coast.

 

[luthj]

Kauri Coast

The west coast of the North Island's far north is known for its Kauri trees, both living and long buried. This photo shows the stump of a long-felled monster Kauri. The stump starts at the step in the foreground, and continues past where I stand in the background.


Besides their timber, kauri trees were sought after for their gum. Before modern chemistry, polymers and resins used for varnish, floor coverings, etc., came from natural sources. Kauri gum comes from cured sap. Part of the secret to kauri trees' long life is the resin-rich sap. This sap congeals into hard gum around any wound, damage, or infection. In the previous century, climbers would use picks and steel crampons to climb these great giants. Cutting gashes into their bark made them bleed sap which could be harvested later.



Deep in the mountains along our route were several groves of ancient kauri behemoths. The largest and oldest of which is Tane Mahuta. Standing over 150ft tall, it is over 55ft to its first branch. The trunk has a girth of over 45ft, and a volume of over 8,800 cubic feet. At over 2,000 years old, it may still live hundreds more.



Here it is from half a football field away. It towers above the trees around it. Sadly all the trees in this grove are under threat from an introduced fungus that is spread by dirty footwear. Other trees only a few hundred feet away have already succumbed.


Of interest to us was the aptly-named Kauri Museum. A sprawling facility with everything from Kauri gum art to a complete reclaimed sawmill, it was fascinating and sobering at the same time.

This 12 seat table is made from a single piece of 6” thick Kauri lumber.


This is a 1500-year-old kauri stump that was buried in a swamp. It was 400 years old when it was buried by a cataclysm of some kind.



You can get a feel for the scale of the logs the lumberjacks worked with.


This is the Billygoat Track Tramway we walked in Coromandel. During its heyday, nary a tree was left standing.


The wealth of many early NZ families was prevalent in the incredibly-ornate furniture.


This piece is a landscape “painted” completely from carved wood inlay.


Because…NZ?


One room had a huge collection of Kauri gums, both fossilized and recent. Many were carved into works of art.




This “hair” is made from heated and pulled kauri gum.

 

[luthj]

Kauri burls.


Victorian-era NZ home (upper class). Missing of course is the film of soot from the wood-and-coal fireplace.


In order to get giant kauri logs down from remote places, massive dams were built. When the dam was filled with logs and water, it was released, flooding them downstream.


Felled in 1960 at about 900 years old, this tree germinated 100 years before humans (Maori) discovered NZ.




This is 300,000 year old kauri wood (not fossilized!). It was buried in a tsunami, and the resin migrated into the wood preserving it. That cylinder weighs 25lbs!


Some industrial, butter-churning machinery.


Spanning this whole room, a complete cross-section of a kauri trunk. So much wood… Kauri of this size are worth big money, especially today as they are almost entirely protected. These long contiguous sections were incredibly desirable for building the structure and rigging for large, oceangoing vessels. In 1900, this log would have been worth about $24 (not inflation-adjusted), in 1998, it would be over $15,000


A nearly complete steam powered sawmill was also on display.

 

[luthj]

Tongariro Alpine Crossing

By Jen.

Since we had last left Tauranga, we had been watching the Tongariro National Park weather so in preparation for the Alpine Crossing. Clear and safe weather is essential for this crossing, especially in the winter. That day finally arrived on Saturday, June 19. So, sped from the north, with a stop in Auckland to visit friends of a friends, down south to the center of the island to Tongariro NP.


The friends we met with gave us a tour of Bucklands Beach, which was quite enjoyable.

We arrived after dark on Friday, but were heralded with beautiful views of Mt Ngauruhoe (aka Mt Doom from LOTR) during twilight.





We had to arrive early the next morning at the headquarters, to get outfitted with crampons. We piled in a bus with 50 other people and they took us to the start. They gave us ice axes and broke us up into 5 groups. Then we were off. I was both nervous and excited. The weather looked good, so that was promising. Hopefully I wouldn’t be cursing myself for choosing this trip. Both the cold and the distance scared me a bit. The summit promised to be at freezing or below, around -6°C, without windchill. The distance was a significant 19.4 kilometers, and that was without the elevation gain, which could often be the bane of my existence during a hike.








Plenty of frost whiskers about.


We could see the elusive Mt. Taranaki rising above the clouds to the east.


Mt. Ruapehu to the south.

It was definitely a gorgeous walk. Even from the beginning.




The rocky, volcanic ground definitely gives the feel of a hellish, desolate place. I can see why the picked the area to film to many locations of Mordor (LOTR) here.






Time to put on crampons and learn how to use the ice axes.

 

[luthj]

I can see why they call it red crater.




Blue Lake.




Steam provided proof that it is a volcano that we are walking on…


Lake Rotorua (and Taupo) can be seen from here.


Lake Taupo.


Some more vents.






Mountains upon mountains into the distance.



We finally reached the destination on the other side. It was already sunset and the drive back seemed to take forever, but we really did enjoy ourselves, despite the cold and the distance. We were definitely ready to rest that night. It was tremendously beautiful walk, and very pretty covered in snow and ice. I can highly recommend.