After the hot springs we wound our way through the forested mountains to reach the very blustery West coast. Our main aim was to visit the Kauri forests, home to some fabulously tall Kauri trees, large snails and giant weta. As you can see, our nature vocabularly has expanded in the last week. We stayed at another Department of Conservation camp site, where we met Theo [left] and his fellow worker, who's name I couldn't pronounce and was too shy to ask for again. Both Maori, they are also descendents of Scots with Grandfathers named Cummings. Theo taught us a lot about the forest - the creatures, the trees and Maori remedies for cuts and bruises. He also showed a great interest in our lives in China, enthralled to hear the girls twittering away in Chinese together. Theo lived in Singapore and Malaysia for over five years and said he loved it but was quick to point out that he had to come home for such clean, fresh air.
Edie with Tane Mahuta, the King of the forest.
This 2,000-year old Kauri tree is 51.5 m tall. The trunk alone is 17.7 m high. As the Kauri is self-shedding, there are no branches on the trunk itself, which adds to its grandeur.
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