So we bought a car (pictured below). After a thorough check from a local mechanic, I used the little bit of car knowledge I have acquired from self repairs and changing oil with my father to provide a valuation of the car and broker a deal. We walked away with a 1995 Volvo station wagon complete with sunroof and only 37,000 miles for $2500 NZD. This seemed like a steal, especially since the consignment lot told us that the seller initially said he "would not budge from $2700." No doubt, we felt lucky and decided to spend the weekend in the Bay of Islands north of Auckland, while our package of camping equipment got sorted out. That is a whole 'nother story, but instead of boring you with the details I will simply say that FedEx in Auckland is a disaster and did not seem to want us to get our camping gear, until 3 days ago...FINALLY!
As I was driving down the windy, bumpy roads in the hills, I came to an abrupt curve in the road. Just then, Brian called out "ANIMAL!" and out of the corner of my left eye I spotted what he was talking about and braked immediately out of instinct. The animal looked like a cross between a cat and a raccoon (see photo below from the web), and as we screeched to a halt I could see the thing completely freeze, staring directly at me.
I'm happy to say that I only came within millimeters of hitting it, but the person driving the car behind me did not possess the same braking ability and crashed into our back right tail light.
To make a long story short, the woman driving the other car was a local and was very nice about the whole ordeal. The problem was that she immediately assumed that the accident was our fault, stating simply "you cannot brake that fast." Kind of a funny notion if you think about it--I mean, what if that animal was some one's dog or child? Anyways, I have learned my lesson in the past as far as putting too much trust in perfect strangers in these situations, and I insisted that the woman call the police (since we have no cell phone). She was happy to do so (again, she thought WE were at fault), and after about 20 minutes waiting on the side of the road in the 40 degree F weather the police arrived. We were relieved when they immediately took our side on the matter of liability, but the cops themselves were a bit different than what we were used to--no guns, no attitudes, and extremely friendly, though they did not seem to have a lot of information about anything. Sadly, the male cop said that he "finished off a possum" on the way over and that it was probably the one I saved; he said they were invasive pests. Once the police report was filled out and we exchanged information with the woman, it was after midnight and we headed to the nearest overpriced hostel to try to get some sleep.
The next morning we were rudely awakened by some loud Australian girls suffering from some substantial hangovers, and we reluctantly packed up our stuff to move out. We did not leave before calling our insurance company (we purchased coverage with our car, of course) but were appalled to find out that they were not open on the weekends. Ridiculous, eh? We decided to try not to think about our recent misfortune and just try to enjoy the weekend.
We spent the rest of the day in Paihia and Russel, which really reminded me of Woods Hole, MA (Seamans! oo Ra!). The towns were quaint and surrounded by lush forest and clean sandy beaches (pictured above and below).
We decided to do our first hike here, in the Opua Forest. This is where we realized that we were in a unique place in the world, and the Lord of the Rings lore definitely seemed to flood our minds. Below is a video that will give you a bit of an idea of what we saw.
We decided to do our first hike here, in the Opua Forest. This is where we realized that we were in a unique place in the world, and the Lord of the Rings lore definitely seemed to flood our minds. Below is a video that will give you a bit of an idea of what we saw.
Below is a photo of a very pre-historic looking fern frond, a common site in the Northland but we couldn't get enough of them.
I have been working on perfecting my macro photos, so I decided to throw in the one below of a moth calmly resting on the moss of a tree trunk along our path.
The next day we decided to head to the west coast to experience some more pristine forest but a bit more on the ancient side. Almost the most ancient possible actually, as we visited both Tane Mahuta ('The Lord of the Forest'), estimated to have sprouted around the time of Christ's birth and Te Matua Ngahere ('The Father of the Forest'), estimated to be 4000 years old, making it the oldest living thing in the Southern Hemisphere. It sounds incredible, but seeing these trees was more incredible than I had expected.
Above is Yaka, one of the largest kauri trees in New Zealand and the only one that we were allowed to actually touch. This tree was not as big as Tane Mahuta though, which was the only massive kauri in its vicinity, giving it an even more surreal appearance.
After we left the massive kauri trees, we headed east and stayed overnight in a nice backpackers lodge in Opewa. The next morning I met up with a research professor at the University of Auckland's Goat Island marine laboratory. The meeting went well and the area was beautiful, but we could not linger, as we had to head to Auckland in the afternoon to begin dealing with the car accident.
Here I will skip over a multitude of boring details, but to bring you up to speed, we made it to South Island yetserday. The drive to the ferry in North Island, however, is worth mentioning because of the stunning, yet desolate scenery, pictured below (for all you LOTR fans, we literally drove through the plains of Rohan).
After we left the massive kauri trees, we headed east and stayed overnight in a nice backpackers lodge in Opewa. The next morning I met up with a research professor at the University of Auckland's Goat Island marine laboratory. The meeting went well and the area was beautiful, but we could not linger, as we had to head to Auckland in the afternoon to begin dealing with the car accident.
Here I will skip over a multitude of boring details, but to bring you up to speed, we made it to South Island yetserday. The drive to the ferry in North Island, however, is worth mentioning because of the stunning, yet desolate scenery, pictured below (for all you LOTR fans, we literally drove through the plains of Rohan).
We actually just left the insurance office where we were given a $1250 NZD cash settlement, and since the necessary repairs will only cost us about $400 NZD, we are feeling pretty good about the whole ordeal at this point. We will get the car repaired on Tuesday, but other than that we are finally ready to do some serious exploring here on South Island!
We will likely do our first multi-day hike tomorrow. I will conintue to update any chance I get (internet is obviously more limited in the New Zealand backcountry than in Thailand), so get ready for some stunning photos!
Mike
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