Auckland: Part 2 - Day 2: Waipoua Kauri Forest

Day 2

Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 2.

9/5 Day 2: Waipoua Kauri Forest 

Costs

Day 2

(1) Lunch at Bakehouse Cafe, Dargaville - Pork loin chops $25 (shared), Flat white coffee $4.50
(2) Petrol - $68.40

The Story

It rained a lot during my stay in Auckland and there were limited activities. I booked for a skydiving but it was postponed 3 times and finally cancelled. The weather was not to our favour. I was disappointed but there will be another time. Too bad I am unable to do it before my birthday. 

090523: The host in the Airbnb provided cereal, jam, bread and instant coffee. I was very happy to have toasted bread with peanut butter spread, cereals with New Zealand milk (creamy. yummy) and instant coffee with milk. 

We drove to Waipoua Kauri Forest today and the drive took 3.5 hours one way. It rained heavily during the entire drive. My sister wanted to see the biggest kauri tree in New Zealand but unfortunately, when we arrived there, the park ranger disallowed us from entering as the pathway was flooded. The kauri tree's roots are very sensitive to the dieback disease (my sister did her thesis on this) as the roots are very visible on the ground surface. The kauri tree is native to New Zealand only and lots of conservative actions are in place to protect this species. So, we went to see the second biggest kauri tree instead. It is HUGE! To enter the area, one has to clean their shoes with water and brush. The facilities are provided and one just has to step on it to get water sprayed on the outsole and then rub the outsoles on a rolling brush. 

A unique characteristic of this species is it shades its tree bark and has a scaly shiny surface underneath it. I think that is how the tree grows wider. 

I was shocked when I saw the tree! That is really huge and I cannot imagine how will the largest tree look like. The trunk has a girth of 16.4meters and a height of 10.2meters. For the largest kauri tree, the trunk has a girth of 15.4meters with a height of 17.8meters. 

For lunch, we stopped along the way at Dargaville town. I drove from the forest to the town and it was quite strange for me as people drive on the right side in Sweden and on the left side in New Zealand. It was fine for me to drive straight but as soon as I was required to turn, I was confused because I was not sure which side I should end up. Then, I got even more confused when I had to do a parallel parking but I succeeded at the first attempt! Yahoo. We had pork loin chops for lunch and I was so disappointed with my meal because half of the meat was fat. I was very hungry and happy to see the food but the emotion was quickly replaced by sadness. Haha! I was pleased with my white coffee, though because it was not very expensive and it came in a large cup. Money worth the spend. :)

On our drive back, we were stopped by the traffic police as the highway was flooded. We drove through a flooded area without stopping the car and we were thankful that we succeeded in doing that. In Malaysia, floods are very common. The water reached the mid of the car and the current was quite strong. I was very nervous but my sister is a good driver. In Auckland town, there was a bad traffic and our host arrived home 5 hours later for a journey that could have taken 1 hour. I can say that the drainage system is poor in Auckland.