Trips Around Raglan

So we left Ahipara, our longest home so far, and made an eight-hour drive south to Raglan. Jordan did much better than we did with the drive as all the roads are beautiful but really curvy and washing out everywhere, we all felt sick 10 minutes into it. While still in Northland we drove through Waipou Forest, a rainforest that is home to the largest living Kauri tree, Tane Mahuta. It is pictured twice, once close-up with Mae, Natalie, and Bobby and once zoomed out (they are very small below the tree) so you can hopefully get an idea for how big it is. Kauri trees are very important to Maori culture, used for canoes, maraes (meeting houses), etc. Tane Mahuta is Maori for Lord of the Forest and started growing before Christ was born, making it over 2,000 years old. The base has a 45 ft. circumference and it is over 180 ft. tall. Pictures don’t do it justice, it was incredible. Raglan itself is a cool small surfing town on the west coast in the Waikato region, central North Island. It is rumored that Jack Johnson spends a week or so there each December he likes it so much. We tried surfing one day on the black sand beach you seen Mae and Natalie on but it was pretty rough and we didn’t do to well. The next morning we went on a short bushwalk to Bridal Veil Falls, the remaining pictures. It was around 180 ft. tall as well, and as you can see a straight drop. Bobby and I jumped in the pool below, which was the coldest water we’ve been in yet. We are now on the Coromandel Peninsula in a small town called Hahei. Tonight we will hopefully go to Hot Water Beach, where at low tide you can dig a hole in the sand and it will fill up with hot water, making it your own private spa. We are having a great trip and are now starting to look apprehensively forward to really finding work.
Cheers, Johnny