As planned, I got up early this morning, drove twenty minutes to the big trees, and… the gates at the parking area were closed until 8am. I returned later in the morning, but the first hike of the day ended up being an easy walk to the headlands above Opononi, followed by coffee and a breakfast sandwich, followed by checking out of my Airbnb, THEN followed by a short hike through the kauri trees of Waipoua Forest.
After the walk in Opononi and a visit to the largest and second largest kauri trees in the world, it was off across the country to the town of Whangarei. One oddity about New Zealand is that there are a lot of introduced species, and I’ve done double takes many times while on the road. Today I saw a flock of turkeys, a flock of California quail, and a few pheasants while enroute. It can be easy to forget you’re 6,500 miles from home when there are turkeys, quails, pheasants, pigeons, doves and Canada geese out and about.
The weather forecast over the next two days is currently calling for sun and very little wind, so with luck the diving in the Poor Knight’s Islands will be good and the ride out to the islands won’t be overly barftastic.