Babbling Brooke’s Travel Blog

Being one of our last days in the Northlands, it meant we needed to take a trip to see Tane Mahuta and his other giant Kauri tree siblings in the Mataraua Forest. It was an exciting day not just because we were about to go see some famously huge trees but also because this was Matt’s last day working before taking the rest of the trip off with some much deserved PTO! From now on, no more half-exploring days- we’re going full holiday mode. 😎

To start the day, we ran and got some pies at Kerikeri Bakehouse and cafe. We had heard that New Zealand was famous for their meat pies and we felt ready to dive in.

The pies were every bit as delicious as we had hoped but they were a bit heavy for me to eat that early in the morning. On the plus side, it tide me over for hours and hours!

Not only did this bakery have a huge assortment of pies; they also sold various donuts, sweet treats, sandwiches, and breads. Everything looked so good it was difficult to narrow down our choice.

With fully bellies, we headed back to the Airbnb so Matt could wrap up the work day. I wrote out the previous day’s blog, did a little laundry, and packed up what we would need for the afternoon’s adventure.

Heading southwest towards the coast, we passed through endless grassy pastures filled with cows and trees before coming upon Hokianga Harbour, where multiple rivers drain together to meet the Tasman Sea. From there we hooked south and made our way to the ancient trees.

We learned that there is a particularly nasty fungus that has a big appetite for Kauri trees, so there are multiple disinfectant stations prior to entering any wooded area to protect these large, but fragile trees.

We walked a short distance along an elevated track- and I’m going to be honest here- I didn’t see the tree at first. I was wearing a bucket hat that was slightly big for my tiny head, and when we got to the platform, Matt spotted a bird in the opposite direction. Me, thinking he’s seeing some tree that I can’t for some reason, began peering around and questioning if we even made it. “Did you see it?” Matt asked me and nods in the opposite direction we were facing. So I turn around, and…

Tāne Mahuta has a commanding presence and its whole space has the same reverence of any other place of worship or spiritually charged place. It was incredible to just sit there and think of all the historical moments that have happened in the last 2300 years, and this tree has been growing here all along.

A woman, presumably a volunteer educator and protector, had lots of incredible information to teach visitors. She even showed Matt and I a little sapling Kauri tree that was 15 years old and still looked like a tiny twig trying to survive on the forest floor. It was wild to think at home in Seattle you could plant a Douglas Fir tree and in 15 years it would be huge in comparison. The woman also educated us that an adult female Kauri tree will only be fertile for 3 days before closing its cone back up and going dormant for 22 months. Then it drops the cone, which only contains 100 seeds. Pretty fascinating!

The next stop on our road trip was seeing the second largest tree in New Zealand which, if you couldn’t guess, is also a Kauri tree.

Te Matua Ngahere is estimated to be over 3000 years old and nicknamed “The Father of the Forest”. It’s a little smaller than Tāne Mahuta, but every bit as impressive and grand. The walk to see Te Matua Ngahere was a special treat as it was longer and generally had much more Kauri trees to walk amongst. Being a rainforest, there was an unidentifiable amount of new plants I had never seen before, and I spent a lot of time pausing to take pictures of cool new moss, leaves, and ferns. Here are some of my favorites from the walk.

By this point it seemed like yesterday since we ate the meat pies, so we fast walked back to the car in search of food! I spotted a yummy looking fish and chips place on the drive over and, like the meat pies, was ready to try another NZ specialty.

As we backtracked, seeing Hokianga Harbour bathed in sunlight hit different than when we first drove past (it was still beautiful then, but the water was so much more vibrant in the sun!)

Famished, we sat down to enjoy our fish and chips before walking along the beach to see what we could find…

Definitely did not expect to stumble across this Portuguese man o’ war while exploring the salt-crusted beach! This thing was such a beautiful and vibrant shade of blue.

While it was definitely a trek out to this part of the country, I am so grateful to have made the journey. I’ll never forget the peaceful feeling when I first saw the giant Sequoia trees in California, and being amongst the Kauri trees left me with those same emotions. I would gladly drive 5 hours round trip to go look at a tree that is thousands of years old, any day.

Back at our Airbnb for the night, we decided to jump in the hot tub for a bit to cure our achy bodies from all the driving. The birds were chirping and I really thought I was having a Snow White moment when a dove flew up to me- right up until it pooped in the hot tub as it aborted landing on my leg at the last second (don’t worry, I fished it out) 😩. After the poop fiasco, I convinced Matt to try my new favorite floaty and he agreed it was pretty darn awesome. Not a bad way to end day eight in New Zealand!

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