A little scarey?

We left early this morning so I skipped my almost normal time to blog. So here’s the last two days activities.

Not a great deal happened in the morning. I managed to make my final call to the Lagoon tech and reviewed the good results of the previous day’s final testing. I then got a chance to play with a new gizmo I’d been sent that plugged into the hybrids motherboard and gave a digital readout of some of the charging parameters.

In the afternoon Helen and I popped into Paihia to withdraw some cash for our newly upholstered cockpit cushions (with new foam for the seats) and to visit the Thursday farmers’ market where we picked up some really fresh mandarins, strawberries, lemon cake and fudge.

Without any time to spare we got back to Opua, dropped off the cushions and went to the Opua Cruisers’ Club to be briefed on some of the better anchorages around here. This gave us much food for thought.

Today we drove over to the west coast to visit Waipoua Forest known for immense kauri trees. Although the drive there was about two hours we were treated to more of New Zealand’s beautiful scenery. This area is classified sub-tropical which provides micro-climates suitable for all sorts of flora from pines and huge ferns to pines and of course the kauri trees.

Our first stop was to visit Tane Mahuta, the largest kauri tree in New Zealand, a short walk from the main road. These trees have immensely wide towering trunks with equally impressively branches spreading out way above our heads.

On our second stop we walked all three trails allowing us to visit the 7th largest kauri (which we could touch), a group of kauris called the Four Sisters and Te Matua Ngahere, the 2nd largest kauri. All these walks, including the first one, were over a combination of well made tracks and raised broadwalks to protect the kauri roots. I tried out my new boots purchased in Whangarei and found them to be extremely comfortable.

Our last stop/hike was further south by the forest visitors center where we climbed the 1 hour each way lookout trail where, at the top, there was a building offering a great lookout – an aptly named trail. This was more of what is designated a tramp as the path was less well made with lots of roots, etc.

That was enough hiking so we made our way back. As we approached the inlet (a very large inlet) near Omapere we saw a sign to a lookout off to the left. We took the diversion and spent about half an hour to walk to the lookout over the bay. On the far side of the bay were some huge sand dunes very reminiscent of those we’ve seen in South Africa in the past. They were on the far side of the inlet and quite unreachable from where we were. This turned out to be a very pleasant diversion.

Feeling in need of a little stimulation we stopped off at a nearby cafe for coffee before heading back towards Opua but with a planned stop at the town of Kawakawa. There we visited it’s ‘World Famous’ toilets which were both artistic and usable – both aspects we all appreciated. Afterward we stopped for a curry where we ate very well for a very modest sum.

So that’s about it. So what, you may think, is a little scarey about all that. For that you need to read the article about the Vava’u Regatta in the December 2010 issue of Lattitude 38. Both Helen and I are mentioned and we all appear in photos in one form or another. It seems we can’t stay out of the press these days. This is another opportunity to plug the Vava’u Regatta to any cruisers heading out this way. It was a huge amount of fun so leave plenty of time for Tonga in your itinerary.