sunday morning was the beginning of daylight saving time in NZ so we woke up early/late and walked down the steep hill in to Russell town for breakfast
but not before some competitive getting dressed in sleeping bag
the weather looked really promising and unlike the rain that had been forecast
as we went down zig zag path we could see Russell in the foreground and the treaty of waitangi location in the distance
this is a picture kezia took the waterfront looking interesting
here’s gasoline alley by daylight.
we then drove west until we hit the other coast (B to C)
and on the way it started raining and stayed raining most of the day
there were some really dramatic sand dunes across the water inlet but we could only partially glimpse them through the rain
the reason for going to that coast was to see Tane Mahuta which is the worlds largest living kauri tree, and the worlds second largest tree.
you can read more about him and his importance to maori here
(or on this sign)
it was still very wet
we drove down the coast through a road which was snaked round giant kauri trees until we got to the attractively named Dargaville. It lived up to its name so we kept driving.
Daragavill is the Kumara capital of the world though, so we bought some from a road side stall. we didn’t know it had this fantastic plastic kumara until we got our the car which was a lovely surprise.
they love their vegetables up there
we kept driving until we reached the Kauri Museum and spent a couple of hours learning about the amazing history of the logging and gum industry
i spent ages photoing mannequins
most of them were based on real people who worked at the museum which was a bit freaky
so there we are. 600km and probably about 8 hours total driving. but another chunk of New Zealand seen, and plenty of appetite whetting things to return to. excellent.