Waipoua Kauri forest!!!

Now here's where we see the Kauri trees!! oh my there were so many, and the big ones, the pictures don't do it justice! read the signs , see the girth ( circumference ) the two biggies what a sight to see!!
We borrowed Meridians car and drove the 1.5 hrs just to see the forest! at one time they were all over the north island but got logged and gummed to almost extinction. Now they are protected and not allowed to be cut down , all the Kauri that is used for making carvings and such are from the swamp . they dig it up from the swamp lands , and are dated to 4,500 yrs old!! Love those trees

and off we go to find our tree.............

FACT Kauri forest once covered a million hectares of the north. Now only 7455 hectares of mature forest remain!



We left Tane Mahuta and went to see the four sisters , and the father of the forest, along the way we saw many many giant trees. here Maya touches the bark..................
The forest brings out the best of Steve! Taken by Emma while we admired the 4 sisters
FACT waipoua forest is the largest remaining kauri forest in the world

just sitting on a kauri log having a good time - don't ya think?
The four sisters! We had a lovely walk through the forest full of Kauri trees
FACT ; Ancestors of the Kauri first appeared in the Jurassic Period 190-135 million years ago. Kauri forests are among the most ancient in the world.


Steve and the kids - this was quite the sight to see coming around the corner!! pictures do not do it justice!! this is one wide wide tree!

Dionne and her trees, this one isn't even big compared to Te Matua Ngahere or Tane Manuta Yep the tree hugger!!
And this man is Rick Taylor, he takes swamp kauri and turns it into beautiful bowls and fancy containers. He gave the kids a demo and in 40 minutes had made a bowl, almost ready to sell. a few more steps to go! Kept quizzing the kids and giving them prizes. they each got their own Kauri gum! It was fun to hang out in his shop. He even explained how they get the swamp kauri, showed a video and explained the different types of grains of wood. and colour. The golden fiddle back grain is from the stump and the green kauri is from the top of the tree. This is his shop!

Just another day in Whangerei!

The kids and I , with Nancy and girls from Meridian and Chris from Candine all went for a hike along the Hatea River to the Kauri Canopy boardwalk. nice walk through the forest and along the river, but we were a little disappointed as we only saw a handful of Kauri trees. in fact we really only saw 3 - I am sure there were more but so spread out ...... not the Kauri forest I was expecting. still a pretty walk, and boy my butt felt it!
tghis is
this Kauri tree is about 500 yrs old. one of the 3 we saw here. and the oldest one here
our happy hiking kids!! they did well, its a 2hr round trip.
this little fella is one of the cycada's - he landed on Emma shoulder. they are very loud and you here them all day when its hot out!! amazingly loud!

so here's a story.............
we went for dinner at this couple's home - Wesly and Jacquie- we met them because they happened to see our boatdown in the Town Basin Marina in Whangerei NZ and recognized it ! Wesly asked if it was built in Cowichan Bay by a fellow named Gordon Rutherford........... not everyday someone happens to know the fellow who built our boat especially in New Zealand!! turns out they are buddies. and how cool is that!! great people and we had a wonderful dinner. We will be getting together again before we leave!!

Claphams Clock Museum - Good "Time"

We sure enjoyed this museum! lots and lots of different clocks and time pieces. some really old!

We learned a lot and they even had old music box and playing machines. The clocks from Germany where really beautifully carved!

We have been doing all kinds of projects , getting ready to do the next 3 big crossings before home. Have been selling and giving lots of things away , to help make room for all the food ect. Greame ( our nephew) is coming with us from NZ to Hawaii and we are looking forward to having him on board. I know he will enjoy it!! Sure glad he is able to come as he has put so much work into Orca III , helping us a ton before we left! She is a great boat!!!!

The kids have grown lots, Emma is the only one shorter than me ( not for longer , either) and Kyle is almost as tall as Steve! They do grow fast!! Time is going by so fast!!

I have been struggling the last day and half, my computer has been acting up , firefox web browser which has been my main browser for the last oh, 2 years , suddenly stopped working and I can't get it to open!! It has been causing my great grief, I have done everything - uninstall, delete temp file, profile files ect. just like I was told to do, then re- install...no luck!! I am using internet explorer and having to get used to its set up. never mind that all my bookmarked sites are in firefox, any ideas? Oh well, enough complaining - see its not all playing , we get frustrated here.

Today - which is our Friday, your Thursday is looking like rain......... they have been calling for it all week, and we've been lucky with sun , but today not looking so lucky. I don't mind its been so hot its nice to have it a little cooler for a change. Our plan today is to go and walk the Kauri Tree canopy walk. I will take lots of photos.

We had a nice dinner with fellow cruisers, Tin Soldier and Meridian last night. One thing for sure a lot of socializing goes on here! But everyone is getting ready to leave NZ - March 20 is the earliest one is going - Candine , canadian boat out of Victoria - he is heading home, we will probably see him in Hawaii as we are each going a different way until Hawaii. Lots of cruiseres are continuing on to Fiji and out for another year or 2 . So we have some good byes yet to do.....

Trivia - what is this called? hint it was used at sea long long time ago for telling the time.

Just another day in Whangerei!

I spent the morning doing laundry, hanging it all over the boat to dry. I have gone back to this as it is way cheaper ( the dryers suck here and the cruising kitty is rather low!) . the clothes dry in a couple of hours and smell so fresh!
and the kids built their own abucus! I gave them a printed instruction sheet , but Kyle didn't like it and wanted it bigger so they could count to a trillion! so this is what they designed themselves , not bad , eh?!

After that we went for a hike at the Whangerei falls. We took the bus with the Meridian troup and Chris from Candine to the falls and then walked home. The bus was cool , check out the GPS screen they have . It also tells you the weather and show different angles in the bus to see all the people. There are 2 screens and one up fron for the driver. We liked it! these are the Whangerei Falls , a very nice walk to the bottom if them
It was quite the long walk took us about 2 hrs to get home from the falls all along the Hatea River. There is a canopy walk through the Kauri trees which we will go back to ! We loved all the great trees and birds and even came across some horses. the girls loved this! at the end we treated ourselves to ice cream!
the Hatea River from the falls
Us ! finally a picture of us together , not very often we get one of these!!
on the way home we saw this man carving a maori carving with a chainsaw right in his back yard

Whangerei - lots to do!

We have been socializing like crazy here!! We have been here exactly a week now and busy everyday! lots of kids around so ours have been "relating" tons.
Tuesday was our last day with O'Vive - they flew out on Wednesday to Colorado to ski. We went to the Whangerei Fernery together. It was really pretty , there was also a garden area and cactus too. The kids love the venus flytrap, had fun puttin a plastic spoon in it's "mouth" to make it close. It was nice to end our time exploring. After that we walked to O'Vive's flat and hung out for a while. The kids came back to Orca III for dinner and the adults went to Reva's for the cruiser's night. We met up with all the other cruisers around and we all said our goodbyes to the Ovive clan. they will be missed but I know we will meet again!
Alec, Emma Kyle , Emilie , Maya and Chris - our Fernery lesson
Nathalie in the Fernery- very green and mossy just like BC
the kids checking out the goldfish pond, we had a nice day hanging out , our last for a long time


The rest of the week has been just hanging around with our other friends. swimming in the pool - I got a pass for the local aquatic center, its a wave pool and waterslides too! heap of fun.
We went of to the library the following day where we had no problem killing over 2 hours and the kids where thrilled to get a ton of books - different library experience - it costs $60 NZ to get a card and then when you turn the card in and all books are back you get $30 back. lucky for me Nathalie gave me here card and I just gave her $30 - so I break even. a few of us are sharing the card. also in the library the best sellers books you have to pay $4 per week for, and dvds, cds, you pay $2 for 2 weeks. at home that is all free with the card. anyway, we can't watch the dvds cause this is a different zone here and our computers have switched the max amount, we are on the north american zone only now. that's okay with us.
They have a big produce market here on Saturdays. Early 6:30 am - 10 am so off I went , nice veggies and fruit ect. great prices compared to the grocery stores! next week the rest of my family will join me. they have music and everything. However, the Raratonga market has been the biggest and best so far!!this is the Catydid- they are noisy noisy bugs, you hear them all over. this one I happened to hear him on the sidewalk and he stayed long enough for a photo, they usually are in the trees.

Steve has been working on a couple of boats and that is helping our "kitty". And Malachi, O'Vive and Hanna all emptied their fridge and extras to us as they have gone on road trip, to Australia (couple of weeks) or have left for good. So its been like Christmas around here. Maya has even been babysitting, making some cash for herself. So far staying here is "paying off".
Steve has found a place to "jam " on Wednesdays , this makes him very happy! and there is a big party happening in March with the Street closed off and 9 bands - this should be fun!
Everyday the weather here is different - poured rain 2 days ago and I mean poured! then the sun was out yesterday and it was sooooooooo hot!! and today , well it started to sprinkle, there are many a cloud in the sky, but may just get some sun too. nice to have it a little cooler though cause it was so hot yesterday. well that's it for now, boat chores and hopefully a hike to the waterfall - oh yeah almost forgot to mention , the boat Earthrace - the power boat that made the record of going around the world in 61 days is here. Just in front of us. They were in Granville Island in 2005,funny looking thing. It can pierce 7 meter deep waves.our home here in Whagerei. we are rafted to Hanna, and he has complimented our kids , saying how quiet they are when they cross, he can tell when its not our children as all the rest walk loud and bump into things. I like to hear that! Thanks to all you we've rafted to , you taught our children well.

Re United in Whangerei!!!!

We left the Great Barrier Island and headed to Whangerei, it was Friday the 13th , not really the best day to leave for a 5 hr tour!! we had a steady 28 knots of wind just ahead of the beam, waves breaking all around us! We had tons of salt water,spray and water on the boat!! very wet ride , thank god for the enclosure! ( it was a good reminded of what I need to do for cooking before the crossings home!! a few pots to pick up and tons of easy to prepare foods!)
We were glad to get to the base of the river - Urquhart Bay and anchor, but just half hour after anchoring the waves were 3 feet and we were bouncing like crazy , we moved and anchored further up the river and around the corner. we couldn't go all the way up to Whangerei as we needed to wait for the high tide. So that was the next morning.
Marg, Nathalie, Nancy, Dionne Marilyn
What a long way up! but when we finally got there, we had quite the welcoming party!! There was the crew of Meridian ( John, Nancy , Mattie and Sophie) and a few others waiting to help tie us up!! then came Malachi and soon after, Tin Soldier, O'Vive, Candine and oh my so many more. Almost all the cruisers are here!! nice reunion!! Emma was thrilled to see Meridian again, as was Kyle and Maya to see all the boats. the kids have been hanging out since. We arrived on Saturday and that night we went to a bar called Danger Danger! the kids even came , we had great ribs - sat night special, played air hockey and pool til our arms dropped off and then danced up a stream!! what a blast! Steve, Dave , Nathalie
Kyle , Emilie and Chris pool time
future dancers? Maya, Emilie, Jenny, Jaryd, Jocelyn and Alec
Where all kids should be!! Mattie, Emma, Sophie, Yonna, Lola
Sunday was another day of socializing - Steve got work on a boat for a few hours ( good thing !!) and then we were off to O'Vive's flat for a BBQ- ( O'Vive the boat is on dockwise heading to Florida) We had a feast and great time OrcaIII, Tin Soldier, Candine, O'Vive, Ocealys - were all the boat families there! we had 20+ people there! we ate, drank and where merry - a final good bye BBQ - O'Vive family fly home on the 18th ( that's the 17th for you in North America) It has been many great months, and miles of good times. Monday night - our last night all together, we did the final farewell with just our 3 boats , playing cards and laughing , remembering ! so many good byes, ! Malachi is of to Australia for 20 days - leaving early Tues morning, we are lucky to have one more day with O'Vive....... it will strange to cruise on without them.