Camping

 Saturday 11 January  

We went camping in the weekend at the Trounson Kauri Park D.O.C Campsite in Northland. We stayed in our tent. I slept by myself, Karl slept by himself and Mama and Papa slept together. After we set up our tent we had a lazy day. Karl and I went into the forest and explored. Mama and Papa stayed back at the campsite. That night we went into the forest to look for kiwi. We had to wait until it was dark so the kiwi had time to get up. We had gone a little way when I got scared and we came back. On the way we saw a possum. On the way back we saw some people and they were looking at something. Karl went ahead and asked them what they were looking at. They said that there was a kiwi and they showed it to him.The kiwi moved towards the path. It started looking for breakfast. We all were looking at it. The kiwi was so close to the path. I got up and moved next to Karl. The kiwi got scared and ran to Karl and I. The kiwi ran up to Karl and my toes. 

Sunday 12 January

We got in the car and went to see the forest giants. The forest giants were Tane Mahuta lord of the forest, Te Matua Ngahere father of  the forest, Yakus the 7th biggest kauri tree and The Four Sisters in the Waipoua Forest. After seeing the forest giants we went and had lunch near Opononi. After lunch we drove to Kupe's Memorial Stone at Pakanae Marae. Kupe  had lived in the Hokianga and planted kumara before heading back to Hawaiiki. Following that we saw the Koutu Boulders. Before heading back we went swimming  at Omapere and walked to see a waterfall. We went kiwi looking again. The first thing we looked for was the NZ weta, which lives in the bark of trees, as well as tuna (long-fin eel). We saw them both. On the way back, we heard a kiwi and saw it briefly as it     scuttled away.

Monday 13 January

After we packed up our gear and tent, we went to see the Kauri Museum at Matakohe. It talks about a sequoia tree in the USA which is 3,500 years old and is 72.9m tall. There were lots of displays about kauri. Downstairs under the shop was heaps of kauri gum, the most I have ever seen. They used to use kauri gum as glue but it is no longer needed so now it is used for arts.  I saw swamp kauri which can lie in swamps for tens of 1,000s of years, and it is still useful wood when it is taken out of the swamp.  There are many types of kauri trees, not just in NZ, but our kauri is the best type of wood and is strongest wood to use for building.