We once again started our day with breakfast on the back of Terrace Cafe. The sky was a clear beautiful blue. The view of the bay with all of the islands was spectacular.
Our touring started a little later this morning, so we had a late tender to get from the ship to the pier. We didn't remember, but we were bumped to the second group leaving today, which means that we'll get back a little later, but that should be fine.
We got on the bus for another fairly lengthy trip out into the country. Our first destination was to the Puketi Kauri Forest. It took a while to realize that the guide was not saying "Kerry" (or was he?). We've been here for a while, and though we generally understand what people say, trying to figure out how to spell the proper names is still a challenge. Even the signs surprise us sometimes. Yes, this is how they spell 'tire' here.
We passed through the town of Kerikeri, which is the center for citrus and kiwifruit orchards, historic buildings and an art and craft trail. We were mostly interested in the public bathroom on the edge of town, which stayed quite busy for several minutes with all of us aging folks. Of course, the women's line was longer than the men's, which doesn't seem to change anywhere in the world. After the men were finished using their bathroom, the women took advantage of the empty bathroom, taking turns serving as lookout/guards!
We had a "Kodak Stop" at the Kerkeri Mission Station. A lot of our folks didn't understand that this was to just get out and snap some pictures of the Stone Store, built in 1835, which is still in use today. We viewed the house from across the pond. Our bus was was quite plush, but due to this very tall. The passenger area was higher above the driver that other buses we have used. A combination of this and the narrower, hilly roads we were traveling, made the bus move quite a bit from side to side. Alan & Joyce again chose the back of the bus since we appear to be more mobile than many of our fellow passengers.
We made our way through some lumber 'fields' to the Puketi Kauri Forest.
This forest sanctuary was set aside in 2003 to protect some of the few remaining Kauri trees. The Kauri trees are gigantic trees that were cleared extensively in the 18th and 19th centuries. The tall, straight, strong trees were in great demand as ship's masts.
The trees have a habit of dropping off lower branches, so the forest floor isn't as sheltered and protected as in rain forests. Though not as big as California's redwoods, they are in the same general category.
The Puketi Forest has about 37,000 acres, and some of our tourism money is going toward removing the four-legged pests and later reintroducing the native birds.
We had a relatively short walk through and among the forest giants. We tried multiple ways of getting pictures and video to try and capture the immensity of the trees, but were continually frustrated.
This is a subtropical area, so we enjoyed the singing of the cicadas, the gentle breeze, the diversity of plant life, and the relative solitude.
One of the byproducts of the kauri trees is the gum resin that is exuded by the trees when they are 'wounded'. The globs of amber resin were collected and prominently used in the production of varnish. Today, you are more likely to find the kauri gum in jewelry and art.
Back on the bus, and we worked our way down through some of the hilly countryside. The hills were actually extinct volcanos that served as fortress locations for the early Maori tribes. Some of the hills were terraced to add to the protection level, though the strategy for that didn't fully make sense.
We stopped in the quaint little village of Kawakawa for lunch. Joyce and I glanced at the options near where the bus dropped us off, and elected to walk a couple of blocks to the local grocery store to see what we could find here. There were some interesting options, some already lumped together in zip-lock bags, so we grabbed some of them, along with some New Zealand cheese and some iced tea for Joyce. We made our way back to the center of town near the bus to find a bench covered in mosaic tiles to eat. There is a tourist train that goes through the middle of the main street on the weekends, and the buildings are artistically decorated, to make it...well..quaint.
One of the quaintest things in town were the public restrooms, opened in 1999, know as the Hundertwasser toilet block, designed by Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, who was a resident of the town from 1975 until his death in 2000. It is one of the few toilet blocks seen as an international work of art. Of course we had to check it out.
After we got back on the bus, we made our way a short distance out of town to the Kawiti Family Glow-worm Caves. The rock formations that housed the caves seemed to rise out of the ground, even though the area is still pretty hilly.
We were the only group there at the time, and we walked single file into the cave, with a guide in the front and back of the group. We weren't allowed to take photographs in the cave, as the flash would have disturbed the worms and their habitat, and probably wouldn't have produced much in the way of pictures anyway. A few lanterns were distributed to the group throughout so that we could watch the pathway as we worked our way into the bowels of the caves, looking at the stalactites and the stalagmites that had formed from the limestone dripping through the cave.
When the lights went out, we were treated to the sight of hundreds of little blue lights on the ceiling. We would have been tempted to think that it was some trick, but there were a few of the 'lights' close to us, and we could see that they were actually little worms that were laying in little hammock/webs they had spun suspended from the ceiling with a luminous blue bulb at their tip. They are only about 3 centimeters at their biggest. The scientific name for these creatures is Arachnocampa luminosa, and the Maori name is titiwai, meaning 'projected over water'. The glowworms are actually the larval stage of a fungus gnat native to New Zealand. The lights attract smaller insects who are trapped and become food, and also by the female to attract a mate just as they hatch as adults. The larval stage is actually from 6 to 12 months long, but their adult life is only one or two days.
After spending several minutes looking at the "blue stars", we made our way out of the back of the cave, and then had a rigorous 150 step climb up the rocky, rain-forested hill and back down to the entrance. From there we loaded back into the bus and made our way back toward Paihia and Russell.
[Smithsonian Magazine has an article about the New Zealand Glowworms.]
When we got back toward the dock, we got off the bus in Paihia, which was where we would pick up the shuttle that would take us to the dock to board the tender back to the ship. There was a small field with several dozen tents set up with local artists and merchants. We looked through many of the tents, and Joyce ended up getting some combs for her hair. We looked briefly through the other local shops and walked on the dock/boardwalk before getting on the shuttle to get back to the ship.
Once we got back on the ship, it was time to start getting back to reality...and that starts with packing. Our suitcases had to be outside our cabin by 10 pm in order to be collected and ready for us to claim at the airport tomorrow. We needed to figure out what we would need for tomorrow morning and what to take with us as we tour Auckland. We can each check one piece of luggage with a maximum weigh of 23 kg.- 50 lbs. We started the process of gathering all of our stuff from the various cubbyholes and getting it sorted.
Dinner tonight was in the last specialty restaurant, Red Ginger. It wasn't Alan's first choice, but Joyce enjoys Chinese food. It turned out to be a very nice place to eat. Many of the choices were quite different than what we've been eating and the food was well prepared. The restaurant's atmosphere was very pleasant and the waitstaff helpful in deciphering the menu. Even Alan was glad we chose to dine there.
Our touring started a little later this morning, so we had a late tender to get from the ship to the pier. We didn't remember, but we were bumped to the second group leaving today, which means that we'll get back a little later, but that should be fine.We got on the bus for another fairly lengthy trip out into the country. Our first destination was to the Puketi Kauri Forest. It took a while to realize that the guide was not saying "Kerry" (or was he?). We've been here for a while, and though we generally understand what people say, trying to figure out how to spell the proper names is still a challenge. Even the signs surprise us sometimes. Yes, this is how they spell 'tire' here.We passed through the town of Kerikeri, which is the center for citrus and kiwifruit orchards, historic buildings and an art and craft trail. We were mostly interested in the public bathroom on the edge of town, which stayed quite busy for several minutes with all of us aging folks. Of course, the women's line was longer than the men's, which doesn't seem to change anywhere in the world. After the men were finished using their bathroom, the women took advantage of the empty bathroom, taking turns serving as lookout/guards!We had a "Kodak Stop" at the Kerkeri Mission Station. A lot of our folks didn't understand that this was to just get out and snap some pictures of the Stone Store, built in 1835, which is still in use today. We viewed the house from across the pond. Our bus was was quite plush, but due to this very tall. The passenger area was higher above the driver that other buses we have used. A combination of this and the narrower, hilly roads we were traveling, made the bus move quite a bit from side to side. Alan & Joyce again chose the back of the bus since we appear to be more mobile than many of our fellow passengers.
We made our way through some lumber 'fields' to the Puketi Kauri Forest.
This forest sanctuary was set aside in 2003 to protect some of the few remaining Kauri trees. The Kauri trees are gigantic trees that were cleared extensively in the 18th and 19th centuries. The tall, straight, strong trees were in great demand as ship's masts.The trees have a habit of dropping off lower branches, so the forest floor isn't as sheltered and protected as in rain forests. Though not as big as California's redwoods, they are in the same general category. The Puketi Forest has about 37,000 acres, and some of our tourism money is going toward removing the four-legged pests and later reintroducing the native birds. We had a relatively short walk through and among the forest giants. We tried multiple ways of getting pictures and video to try and capture the immensity of the trees, but were continually frustrated. This is a subtropical area, so we enjoyed the singing of the cicadas, the gentle breeze, the diversity of plant life, and the relative solitude.
One of the byproducts of the kauri trees is the gum resin that is exuded by the trees when they are 'wounded'. The globs of amber resin were collected and prominently used in the production of varnish. Today, you are more likely to find the kauri gum in jewelry and art.Back on the bus, and we worked our way down through some of the hilly countryside. The hills were actually extinct volcanos that served as fortress locations for the early Maori tribes. Some of the hills were terraced to add to the protection level, though the strategy for that didn't fully make sense.
We stopped in the quaint little village of Kawakawa for lunch. Joyce and I glanced at the options near where the bus dropped us off, and elected to walk a couple of blocks to the local grocery store to see what we could find here. There were some interesting options, some already lumped together in zip-lock bags, so we grabbed some of them, along with some New Zealand cheese and some iced tea for Joyce. We made our way back to the center of town near the bus to find a bench covered in mosaic tiles to eat. There is a tourist train that goes through the middle of the main street on the weekends, and the buildings are artistically decorated, to make it...well..quaint.After we got back on the bus, we made our way a short distance out of town to the Kawiti Family Glow-worm Caves. The rock formations that housed the caves seemed to rise out of the ground, even though the area is still pretty hilly.
We were the only group there at the time, and we walked single file into the cave, with a guide in the front and back of the group. We weren't allowed to take photographs in the cave, as the flash would have disturbed the worms and their habitat, and probably wouldn't have produced much in the way of pictures anyway. A few lanterns were distributed to the group throughout so that we could watch the pathway as we worked our way into the bowels of the caves, looking at the stalactites and the stalagmites that had formed from the limestone dripping through the cave.
When the lights went out, we were treated to the sight of hundreds of little blue lights on the ceiling. We would have been tempted to think that it was some trick, but there were a few of the 'lights' close to us, and we could see that they were actually little worms that were laying in little hammock/webs they had spun suspended from the ceiling with a luminous blue bulb at their tip. They are only about 3 centimeters at their biggest. The scientific name for these creatures is Arachnocampa luminosa, and the Maori name is titiwai, meaning 'projected over water'. The glowworms are actually the larval stage of a fungus gnat native to New Zealand. The lights attract smaller insects who are trapped and become food, and also by the female to attract a mate just as they hatch as adults. The larval stage is actually from 6 to 12 months long, but their adult life is only one or two days.
After spending several minutes looking at the "blue stars", we made our way out of the back of the cave, and then had a rigorous 150 step climb up the rocky, rain-forested hill and back down to the entrance. From there we loaded back into the bus and made our way back toward Paihia and Russell.
[Smithsonian Magazine has an article about the New Zealand Glowworms.]
When we got back toward the dock, we got off the bus in Paihia, which was where we would pick up the shuttle that would take us to the dock to board the tender back to the ship. There was a small field with several dozen tents set up with local artists and merchants. We looked through many of the tents, and Joyce ended up getting some combs for her hair. We looked briefly through the other local shops and walked on the dock/boardwalk before getting on the shuttle to get back to the ship.
Once we got back on the ship, it was time to start getting back to reality...and that starts with packing. Our suitcases had to be outside our cabin by 10 pm in order to be collected and ready for us to claim at the airport tomorrow. We needed to figure out what we would need for tomorrow morning and what to take with us as we tour Auckland. We can each check one piece of luggage with a maximum weigh of 23 kg.- 50 lbs. We started the process of gathering all of our stuff from the various cubbyholes and getting it sorted.
Dinner tonight was in the last specialty restaurant, Red Ginger. It wasn't Alan's first choice, but Joyce enjoys Chinese food. It turned out to be a very nice place to eat. Many of the choices were quite different than what we've been eating and the food was well prepared. The restaurant's atmosphere was very pleasant and the waitstaff helpful in deciphering the menu. Even Alan was glad we chose to dine there.
We skipped the entertainment, the movie Gone Girl, since we had watched it on the plane from Dallas/Ft. Worth to Sydney. We went back to the cabin and finished packing. We were pretty happy with the results, and got to bed early, since it's an early call tomorrow to get breakfast and off the ship by 8 am. Besides, we won't see a bed again until we get back to Lafayette.
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