The rain was pouring down again last night, and off and on this morning. We couldn’t really do any of the hikes in the rain so we had another leisurely morning. We didn’t leave the site till after ten.
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Ty had read about a neat walk along a river with some suspension bridges. So we attempted to go for that, but ended up at some old gold mining site thanks to faulty GPS. It was raining hard but we dressed the kids up in their rain gear and crocs. However, Ty and I had only our very lightweight rain coats. But we were determined to get outside! R was miserable immediately however, L loved it! Stomping in every puddle he could. We walked up the trail past the old mining equipment to the museum and a promise of a cafe, with hopefully hot cocoa. Instead we found a closed building. We opened the one door since we saw cars there but the employee didn’t seem to want to let us in. So he directed us up the hill to see the old kilns. Which we dutifully did. It wasn’t of much interest to any of us though. So we slogged back to the RV. Drove five minutes further down the road and saw Ty’s original hiking trail. 🙄 We decided we probably wouldn’t get the kids back into their wet gear though, so we drove on.
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We plugged the kids into an audiobook and hit the road.
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We stopped in Maungaturoto at a little cafe for lunch, and a bubble blowing break.
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Then we continued on to the Kauri Museum in Matakohe. This place was recommended to us by two separate people back home. Now we understand why! Only 4% of these ancient trees remain. The oldest of these remaining trees is 3,000 years old! Hear trees were severely harvested for their sap (gum) and for their wood quality. It’s depressing to think on how these trees were decimated by man in the 1800’s. The remaining trees are now being threatened by the Kauri dieback disease.
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This photo blows me away, the large rings are the diameters of the largest of the Kauri trees. So immense!
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Ty standing next to a slice from a small tree.
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After trying to take as much time as the kids would allow in this extensive museum, we decided to call it an early day and camped at an RV park literally up the road from the museum. Instead of driving hours and arriving after dark like we have for the past few night.
We were the only ones in the RV park. She hadn’t had any guests in days. The kids loved the play area, even in the rain.
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We were able to do some laundry finally. Little boys are so hard on clothes! We spent the evening in the kitchen lounge area. It was pouring outside but we set the kids up with the iPad, while Ty and I caught up on HGTV. 😄 We cooked a pizza and a meat pie in the oven, along with some popcorn. It was nice to get out of the RV for a bit.
