On Easter Sunday Steele a friend of mine picked me up at 7:30 in the morning for a day trip to the north of the north island. Was my birthday trip 🙂 The weather was mixed but all in all we had mostly sunshine. First we drove over Whangarei to Paihia one of the coast towns at the “Bay of Islands”. We had there a New Zealand breakfast and watched a bit the little shops and the beach.
In one shop I found a big poster of the world oldest tree a gigantic Kauri in the Waipoua Forest. Steele was so gentle to bring me down there. The trip was from the east to the west coast. We stopped at the coast at Opononi for this wonderful view.
The name of the old tree is “Tane Mahuta” and it means God of the forest after an old Maori myth. The tree is more than 2000 years old and more than 50m high. The circumference is 13,8m. Imagine what the old tree all experienced. This Kauri was there before the polynisian and the first european people arrived. This Kauri is so huge. Unbelievable. Photos can’t express the impression you have in front of this relict of ancient times. And I never knew before that the oldest tree on earth is in New Zealand.
