Where on earth are we going?

Tuesday 15th. Our journey today is to South Head to stay with Peter Boyes. For those of you who don't know Peter, he used to live near Stansgate Abbey with Janet and their children, Morgan, Jennifer and Edmund. They and came to church in Bradwell and their children attended school and Sunday school in Bradwell. So, that's Peter. Well we didn't go the most direct route but headed west across to Kaikohe and then down the west coast to Ruawai, back east to Maungaturoto and then south to Helensville and then north to South Head. A real S shaped route all around North Island. Look at the map and you will see why we had to take that route. 

When we arrived at Opononi, the first town on the coast, we were faced with a gigantic sand dune mountain. That's the only way to describe it. They even advertise Sand Tobogganing if you want to try it! 

Following that we went to see Tane Mahuta in Waipoua Forest. Tane Mahuta is a giant Kauri tree. 

It is believed to be over 2000 years old. 

Pictures don't do it justice since you can't get the perspective correct in a photo. For those of you who have seen 'Avatar' it reminded me of the home tree in the film. It has that majesty and size about it. Even with Brigid standing in front of the tree, you still don't get the size right because she was about 50 feet in front of it. 

The journey then took us along the Wairoa River to Matakohe where there is The Kauri Museum. On the museum site they had the old post office, schoolhouse and chapel. 

All these buildings had been transported from other sites and collected together here. 

We decided not to go into the museum as we weren't too sure how long it would take to find Peter's house. We had a most pleasant drive with plenty of good views over Kaipara Harbour, possibly the largest harbour areas in the world. 

At the end of a long day we drove almost to the end of South Head and eventually arrived. Photos tomorrow.