Days 8 and 9 - the Northland

Northland is the area north of Auckland. We headed north in our little car on Sunday morning. After leaving the Auckland suburbs, it got rural really quickly. Green hillsides, forests, herds of cows and sheep. We took a left on hwy. 12, which put us out in nowhere for a while. But eventually we found our destination, the Kauri forest. Kauri trees are the native trees, which were much prized by early loggers, and now are a tourist destination. They grow really slowly, and have a very hard wood. We made a few quick stops there, and took pictures by that really huge tree. Pictures cannot show how large it was - I think it even impressed me as being bigger than our big California redwoods in the north. The forest was interesting as well, since it had many different trees, including fern-looking trees (palms, maybe). After leaving the forest, we drove through the most beautiful hills and valleys I'd ever seen. I thought I'd died and gone to a warm-weather Switzerland! :) And it just kept getting better. Eventually we ended up in Russell around dinnertime. We had to take a car ferry to get there, which was surprisingly easy. Our hotel, the Duke of Marlborough, was a historic building. The first bar and hotel in New Zealand. I believe it was built in the mid 1800s.

Gosh, I nearly forgot Sheepworld. I noticed it on our map, and nudged Rich and said "aw, come on!" It turned out to be a very fun little stop. We were convinced to watch the 1 hour sheep show, and it was really great! We watched a sheepdog herding sheep, then sheep sorting, sheep milking (they demonstrated with a goat - I did that), sheep shearing (which was interesting), and then a mock auction of wool, and finished with feeding bottles of milk to some eager lambs. Surprisingly, this little diversion to Sheepworld was probably the most fun we had that day!

So, next day Rich got to go diving at Poor Knights Island (which he wants to describe himself). He left early and got back late. I spent the day wandering the streets of Russell. It was a small, sleepy tourist town, with a very interesting history. In the old European-immigrant whaling days, they called it the "hellhole of the Pacific". In other words, people came there to get drunk and pick up women and pick fights. Anyway, I learned all about that and more during my ramble through the museum and old buildings. Then, I hiked up a hill to a sundial and flagstaff. Still, I had more time to kill, so I browsed through every gallery and shop in the little town. Took some nice pictures. Rich finally returned, and we had a slab of meat for dinner (yuck). Now we're in Auckland again, which I think I'll write about next time.

-Carol