A 2000 Year Old Tree

January 2^nd, 2020

I liked my campsite for New Years so much that I decided to stay another day.  I went for a walk on the beach and just chilled out, a nice way to start the new decade.

Stopping in Opotiki to fill up my water containers, I saw this in the nearby playground and had to give it a go...

Here's the result...tough to stop!

The following morning it was time to go and see this supposedly 2000 year old tree that I had bypassed on New Year’s Eve.  It was in an arboretum called Hukutaia with a wide range of native plants.  It was surprisingly not in a big forested area but was a plot of a few hectares nestled between farmland.  Obviously it had been here for a lot longer than the surrounding ranches and it was a good thing that they saved it as it was quite magical, and super popular with the local birds.  It was a short trail around the area that took about half an hour, at a leisurely pace.  There were a number of families with young children so unfortunately it was tough to just soak in the sounds of the birds and enjoy the peace in the forest but it was still great. 

The highlight was the 2000 year old Puripuri tree which the Maori consider as a sacred burial tree.  Not sure of all the history behind it, such as did they used to bury their dead around or under the tree (as it did have some little cave-like openings on some parts where the trunk had forked) or whether they just held ceremonies there in the past.  Regardless, it was an impressive tree, not super tall but it had girth.

I'm trying to channel my inner Emma (my niece) by doing the same pose as the statue in the background.

From there I drove along the coast of the Bay of Plenty to the west and past through Whakatena (in Maori, “wh” is pronounced like an “f” so this is  pronounced like “fa-ka-taw-nay”)…kind of a funny name.  This town is the launching point for tours going to White Island (or the Maori name is Whakere – pronounced “fa-care-eh”…yes 10 year old boys would be giggling in many places in New Zealand…I was!).  This is the island where the volcano erupted about 3-4 weeks earlier and killed 18 people and severely burned another 20-30.  It felt weird seeing the signs and billboards for the excursions.  I wonder how affected this community will be by the tragedy in the long run.

Whakere Island:

I drove another 45 minutes or so further up the coast and stopped at a freedom camping site called Motunau Park.  It was on the beach along a road that ran about 5 kilometres or so with houses on either side of the street, beach front and not beach front.  There were no other roads breaking off from it.  It had decent toilets and an outdoor shower.  There were six parking spots for freedom campers and my only complaint would be that they were a bit angled so I did notice that when I woke up in the morning that my feet were hanging a bit off the edge of my bed, but it was all good.  I went for a 20 minute jog down the beach and then got back on the road.

Nice sunset that evening: