Friday 14 and Saturday 15th May 2026
Sadly, our time in New Zealand has almost come to an end as we head south towards Auckland and the point at which we hand back the keys to the motorhome then head to the airport for our flight out.
On our way down the west coast, we have passed some interesting places and found some superb scenery:
As we arrived at the west coast, we discovered a headland which presented us with a view across the Waima River estuary from a headland right at the mouth of the river. Despite the obviously treacherous waters, relatively few ships have come to grief here. This fact is attributed to that according to Maori tradition, this is a sacred place.
Further down the coast we passed through the Waipoua Forest, which has many Kauri Trees, including one, called Tane Mahuta, which is the biggest tree in the southern hemisphere and the fifth largest on the planet.
Kauri trees are extremely slow growing and Tane Mahuta is thought to be around 2500 years old.
Although protected by law, Kauri trees are however under attack by a contagious disease called Kauri dieback, so there are strict cleanliness rules to be followed when entering the forest and many of the trails are closed to visitors.
We stayed overnight at a town called Dargaville. At the very nice campground there I was fortunate to be able to photograph some Monarch Butterflies before we headed on further south to stay the night about an hour north of Auckland airport.
On our way, we really only stopped once to take photos, at an elevated position overlooking the Tasman Sea and the beautiful landscape. A view which summed the whole trip up in a way. Just stunning!
That is it for today and for our time in New Zealand, so TTFN and see-u-later.
"See-u-Later" 