Up north

North of Auckland are the remaining kauri forests. These incredible trees can last for 100s of years, and are massive.  So most of them were cut down for shipping and furniture in the late !9th century.  A few patches were kept, and we saw the oldest in NZ -  with a girth of about 13.8m it’s estimated to be between 1200 and 2000 years old.  We preferred the Trounson Kauri park, a boardwalk through another area of kauri which though smaller was more atmospheric.  We returned for a guided night walk on a chilly, starry night with Herb from the caravan park, and a German family.  We hoped to see a kiwi, but first saw an eel which he’s been feeding for about 8 years.  There were some glowworms, and the cave weka which is a bit like a very long-legged grasshopper and can jump up to 2m high.  Not sure why.  In the water we also saw native crayfish and the kokopu fish.  At the end of the walk we saw the rear end of a creature disappearing into the bush.  It did look like a kiwi bustle, but then again it could have been the rounded end of a possum, we didn’t find it again to be sure.