More of the Northland

We continued down the west coast, crossing the Hokianga Harbour by ferry and taking a coastal " tramp" near the town of Omapere at the mouth of the harbour. South from there we drove through a kauri forest stopping to look at the largest one left in the world - Tane Mahuta. These trees are impressive - they are huge, not as big as the redwoods but huge nonetheless! Tane Mahuta's circumference is 13.7 meters, and over 30 other species of plants live in his crown. We all enjoyed spending a few hours in the Kauri Museum a few days ago and learning more about them and their importance in New Zealand's history.
When our friends /hosts, the Whites, joined us on the weekend, we put on our headlamps and explored the Waipu Caves! What starts off as a hole in a rock wall, ends up opening into vast rooms with stalactites, stalagmites and glow worms! We walked through a stream, hunched over at times and almost crawling at others, from cavern to cavern. Nigel, Liam and Lauren went even further, through a passage too tight for me - (when you have to wriggle on your stomach I get a little claustrophobic) which apparently opened into a huge cavern with a lake and had them walking waist deep in the water. It was all pretty exciting and very cool! Glow worms are tiny worms, almost like threads, hanging from the ceiling and walls of the caves, that look like tiny stars in the sky in a dark cave.