January 30, 2013
After Tane Mahuta, it’s a short drive to another area to see the rest of the famous trees. How many you see depends on how much you’re willing to walk. A two-hour round trip will take you by a lot of great trees.
Our first stop was the Four Sisters, four young (a mere 500 years old) kauris growing in very close proximity from the same large mound of pukahukahu (whatever that is). This is unusual in that kauri usually fight for sole survival and grow alone, but these four grow together, branching only outward so as not to infringe on each other.
Next up was Te Matua Ngahere (Father of the Forest). This is not the tallest Kauri, but it is the oldest and widest. When it was born, people were still living in caves during the Bronze Age. This one does not sneak up on you; the massive trunk is a visual smack in the face as you round the corner.
We were feeling energetic and decided to walk onward to Cathedral Grove, a grouping of Karui trees that aren’t especially impressive individually, but beautiful as a group. It lived up to its description: the view of this grove of trees is breathtaking.
Our final walk was to Yakas, the 7th’s largest kauri and a wide monster with a girth of over 42 feet. It’s a beauty, and what’s nice is the walkway that keeps you some distance from the other trees goes right up to this one. You can stand right next to it and hug it.
One thing that really struck me about the kauri trees were the ecosystems residing in their canopies high above the forest floor. These trees may well have been the inspiration for the trees in the movie Avatar. –Cyndi
