Russell > Matakohe
The day got off to a bad start - with James pulling Mummy's hair... and progressed to James weeing all over the chairs in the back of the van. Next, the drains backed up as I drove the van over to the waste disposal spot, which would've been fine except that the cushion which James had christened was drying off in the shower cubicle at the time. The cherry on the top came as I carefully avoided the large fishing boat parked blocking the waste diposal area, only then snagged a quad bike parked on the other side. So we now have a battle scar on the side of our removal van.
Tempers were still frayed when we stopped to check our tyres (we were warned about the front driver side looking flat on the ferry. Aaarrgh!). Anyway, the resulting 'disagreement', whilst parked on the garage forecourt culminated in a flip-flop being thrown at the driver. James helpfully pointed out: "Oh Dear! Mama's shoe!".
We'd decided to take the long route back south which took us along the west coast of Northland, called the Kauri coast since it is the only place left in New Zealand with large Kauri forests. These are the second largest tree in the world, growing to 60m high.The drive through the pouring rain led us to a mirror image of Morecambe (sorry Morecambe) and we had a dreary lunch of fish and chips in dreary Opononi.
And then we started though the Waipoura Forest. WOW! All of the stresses of the day started to disappear, and it felt like were travelling back in time through an ancient forest. I was really hoping we'd have somewhere to stop, and then it came : a place to park up and go and see the Tane Mahuta, God of the Forest.
James was asleep in the cab, so we took it in turns to walk through the forest. Catherine went first, and when she returned she looked so shocked I thought something terrible must have happened... only she was just overwhelmed by it, the largest tree of them all, and one of the really old trees! And then it was my turn:
The rain fell softly as I started along the path, muting the sound, with only far-off bird song to be heard. The trees looked ancient, with layer upon layer of plants growing on plants. A fallen tree was across the path, but even that was home to yet more ferns and mosses. And there it was - the largest tree in New Zealand - looking like something built to a different scale, utterly dwarfing the rest of the forest.
After the spiritual uplift the day continued to improve, the drive along the Kauri coast was magnificent, James had at last caught up on his sleep and we had a great dinner in a local cafe which even had toys to keep James occupied while we ate. We've even managed to have an evening chilling out drinking wine while James has played quietly.
We're experimenting with James & me (Catherine) sleeping on the top bunk so that James is out of the way. Its looking promising but requires vigilance to make sure he doesn't kamikaze out while playing up before he falls asleep. Watch this space...
7:44:43 PM 
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