Matakohe

Wednesday

What a difference a day makes!

We woke up to glorious sunshine, looked out on some wonderful scenery, had breakfast sitting outside in shorts and t-shirts and decided that Maui were not going to spoil our holiday. (Bert is working on his letter of complaint that may spoil their day after we get back!)

As we had near enough lost a day with all the issues yesterday we re-vamped our plans and decided that we would stay in Matakohe, visit the Kauri museum and stay another night on the campsite. The site managers are very good and were even able to provide the missing piece of equipment we required!

The Kauri museum (http://www.kaurimuseum.com/) was within walking distance of the site so we strolled down mid-morning and spent most of the rest of the day enthralled by the history of the local area and, more particularly, the logging that brought so many people to this part of North Island. Some of the timber from the Kauri trees was absolutely magnificent. The trees were anything up to 3000 years old and more; they have actually carbon dated some that were older. Unfortunately there are now only two of these trees left alive, we are hoping to see one or both of them tomorrow. They are now looking to reforest some of the area with the Kauri tree, this will be done to create a millenium forest.

One of the products of these trees was gum, a bit like amber, which was collected for many industrial purposes but was also used for carving. There is a separate room in the museum displaying a number of collections created by local people.

We really feel that our holiday has now started and we are going to celebrate with a meal out at the local restaurant. Sue has decided to have steak, despite there being salmon on the menu! We had lunch at a cafe across the road from the museum and when Sue asked what gluten free items they had was greeted with the response - “What would you like – we can make anything for you.”