Here it is, the end of the Northlands trip. In the morning on Day 8 we left Opononi and went back to the reserve where the mouth of the Hokianga harbor opens into the Tasman Sea. The harbor is a large one, but the entrance is dangerous, so there used to be a signal master stationed on the hill where we are standing, holding up signs with symbols on them telling the ships how to safest enter the harbor depending on the tides and the shifting sandbars. Seriously. Here are the heads again:
And here is a view down the coast to the south:
We went back to the kauri forest and did a long hike that wandered through the reserve. It was a very poorly maintained trail, full of fallen trees and mud, and we mostly felt like we were just wandering aimlessly through a jungle. We ate lunch somewhere on the trail and then turned around. We later found out the lookout point we thought we were hiking to was actually quite a long ways away and could be reached also by car. So we drove there. Here is a photo from the lookout tower over the forest. Imagine our family was somewhere in the midst of that, eating lunch sitting on tree roots, just two hours before.
We found a kauri tree that had been planted in honor of a man who had helped get the forest government protection from logging. Believe it or not, this tree is already forty years old. Consider that the pine trees they grow here on plantations are harvested fully grown at twenty five years. This tiny kauri is already much older than that - makes you wonder how old the giants we saw the day before are.
The last day of our trip was spent in Auckland. It was kind of nice to be in a city again. Our hotel had an elevator in it! Evelyn pointed out that it was the first elevator we'd been in since June. The tallest building in the southern hemisphere is in Auckland - Sky Tower. We went up to the top, of course. Here are some views from the windows:
New Zealanders have a passion for scaring themselves to death through extreme sports and various thrill rides. They invented bungy jumping, they love creating seriously frightening "flying foxes" that zip you over deep gorges harnessed to wires strung above, and everyone here owns a mountain bike and uses it all the time. Where we live, Taupo, is the skydiving capital of the world, and we see parachutists falling out of the sky all the time. The Sky Tower, of course, allows you to walk around the outside of the top floor on a three-foot wide metal ledge without any railings and also lets you jump off the top tethered to free-fall line that slows you down and stops you at street level. It is more than a little disconcerting to be looking out the window at the top of the Sky Tower and suddenly see a body plummet past and out of sight. That happens about once every five minutes.
To keep with the "we are all insane" theme, some of the floors on the top level are made of glass. Our kids thought is was funny to go stand on the glass panes and jump up and down. I thought I might throw up. Here is a photo of my foot over the glass floor. It took me several minutes to work up the nerve to take this photo:
And, of course, part of the floor of the elevator is transparent. Here we are, descending:
We went to the mall in Auckland, we rode escalators, we ate very good Chinese food and even Vietnamese food. We bought new shoes, we used the internet, we observed traffic lights, and we parked in a parking garage. So fun! We'll have to make another trip to the big city again soon!
