roadquill1

Days 35: (March 7)
The day begins with showers and forecasts are gloomy, but in our hearts the sun shines as Montana announces that she is cancelling her plan to bus it back to Auckland, and would like to continue with us (“if that isn’t putting you out”). As if!!
We head north and stop to see a historic site called the “Stone House”. It is closed, but chickens running loose in the parking lot entertain us for free for a while. Good deal! On we drive – passing small villages as our route follows the coast. We arrive at our Ninety Mile Beach Motel at Waipapakauri by 1:00, and the management has managed to find us a bigger room with an extra bed. All is well – except for mosquitos and flies. (No screens on windows which must be open as there is no air conditioning – very muggy and warm).
We quickly unload and drive on – first a few hundred metres down the road to the beginning of the 90 Mile Beach, and then on towards Cape Reinga at the very north end of the North Island. By the time we arrived, strong winds had picked up, and mists were blowing across the high headland above the Cape. We quickly donned shirts and headed off to join other brave souls on the hike out to the lighthouse at the end of the headland. It is no longer “muggy” or “buggy”! Those conditions cannot exist in these winds. (Double string of Tilley required!) By the time we complete our trek, temperatures have dropped somewhat, and the rain has begun. We scramble into the car, and make our way back to a town called Kaitaia, a few kilometres south of our motel. (I very annoyingly correct our GPS’s pronunciation of this word every time – but Rooby won’t learn!) Just after we arrive back at the motel, VERY HEAVY rains hit. It is monsoon time!

Day 36 (March 8)
During the night, mosquitoes feasted on Montana, and in the morning, since we don’t have a kitchen in our unit, we move to the communal kitchen, where rainwater lingers on the floors. We take one last look at the rain damages at the parking area by the beaching then we are on our way through Kohukohu to catch the Hokianga ferry across the narrows to Rawene.
(An aside: As I drive, news on the car radio informs us that the extremely heavy rains have flooded large sections of the Coromandel Peninsula, that folks are trapped, and roads washed out. This is a setback for our plans as we planned on heading there after a return through Auckland.)
Past Omapere, we stop to walk the trails to the headland above the Hokianga Harbour. The sun shines, and all is beautiful, and warm (27°). After that stop, the road climbs and twists, and it is difficult to find pull-offs to let tail-gaters pass, but eventually we find one of our destined stops – the giant kauri tree known as the Tane Mahuta. It truly is awesome at an age of approximately 2000 yr with a 13.77 m girth! Clouds return, and heavy rain hits shortly after. I have to pull off the road because it is so intense!
A second stop is scheduled at Nelson’s Kairu Kauri – a place where manufactured swamp Kauri wood products are sold. As usual, these wood products are truly spectacular, but even more interesting is the story behind the “swamp Kauri”.
After the supply of green Kauri logs ran out, farmers began to drain swamps to gain more farmland. Lumps appearing in the drying land turned out to be ancient kauri trees – as old as 25,000 years, some with leaves and bark still on them. It is surmised that these forests were wiped out by a catastrophe – perhaps a tsunami. The wood is excellent still, and the property we were visiting had a large supply of swamp Kauri stumps on its acreage. I tried very hard to figure out how to get some home! Not gonna work! On to Dargaville, which turns out to be a rather drab and neglected town – in my estimation. However, our room was a two bedroom large place, and dinner, selected by Montana was takeout from a place featuring “Indian and Pizza”. Good food, but strange combination! I broke away from my vegetarian plan to have meat on the pizza. (Montana did not share it with me – but Sandy did – the next day.) The television shows us the vast flooding, road closures and “slips” (mudslides) on the Coromandel from Thames around to Gisborne.

Day 37: (March 9) Return to Auckland
Today was a rather straight-forward, if a bit sad, drive, for we finally say our good-byes to Montana. She has been a real trooper putting up with a couple of seniors who go to bed early (…and an uncle who lingered too long in a beautiful museum showing the area’s Kauri tree story, and logging history. I eventually found the two ladies reading in the car.)The biggest issue has been how to dig a preference out of her…”whatever you like” and “I’m okay with anything”. (And she truly has been…okay with everything! What a treat to share this part of our journeys with her! We will miss her!) We drop her off in Auckland and head on to our next evening stop in Huntly, where we find a converted hospital (not for the insane this time, but for maternity.) Our room is great, but a review of weather channels confirms more rain for the next week, and Coromandel has not recovered from the first blow. Our plans are to visit Hobbiton, near Matamata – the movie sets for “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit”.
So…good-bye to Montana, and now on to our next adventures.
Much love to all, and we want you to know that we both enjoy the comments from the postings, and I would respond to them, but as you have seen, I struggle just to keep up with the story – and the pictures! Know that we are grateful to you!

Tony, (the Quill) and Sandy (the Quilter)