We jumped in the vans (my group had the living saloon! a very plush van) and headed to Whangarei for dinner. Ate a delicious plate of nachos and then headed for the Kauri Forest. Unfortunately the other group's van started smoking and smelling really bad. We decided it would be better if we just stayed the night in Whangarei. Crawled into a nearby holiday park and stayed the night.
The next morning we split ways, as the other group waited for a tow truck. Our group headed out to Dargaville (the kumera (a.k.a. sweet potato) capital of New Zealand). Nothing was there basically, and we got lost after driving down a gravel road for what seemed like ages. At the end of the road we found a beach.
Drove back to Dargaville for some fish and chips and then headed in the right direction for the Kauri Forest. Kauri trees are the largest in New Zealand and are rare because they were used for ship's masts in the early 1800s. Some of the trees we saw in the forest were from 600 to 2000 years old. The oldest (the picture of me in front of the tree) is called Tane Mahuta. An old Maori legend says that Tane Mahuta was the son of mother earth and father sky and tried to split them apart.
After the Kauri Forest we started heading up to Ahipara. When we were about 45 km outside the town our gas tank read empty. We kept driving. Before boarding a little ferry we stopped at a gas station. It was closed. Boarded the ferry and decided to get gas at the next town. Gas station found and closed. Kept driving. At this point I started judging the houses that we were passing to see where the best place to stop would be. We figured that we would just ask the friendly townspeople if we could sleep in their backyard. Luckily we pulled into Ahipara (still on empty!). Stayed the night at another holiday park.
At this point we were starving and decided to walk downtown to get some food. Everything was closed. Figures. But it was Guy Fawkes Day so all the people in the town were setting off fireworks and playing with sparklers. I love fireworks!
Made it back to the holiday park and found out that the third group of EcoQuesters was staying there. What are the odds?
Next day we drove around looking for the gigantic sand dunes.
We climbed the dunes for what seemed like forever. They were incredible! Sadly the pictures just don't do it justice. They were so vast and so tall. Awesome. We had a fun time running down the dunes.
Then we started the long drive home. Ate some delicious falafel in Whangarei. Yum. The drive home was cool, especially through Auckland, because there were fireworks going off everywhere. Now I have to start researching for my two papers that are due Tuesday. Final exam on Tuesday too! Oh and work journals due Thursday, AND a paper due Friday. Probably wont blog for the next week. See you next week.
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