NZ Waipoua Main

S/V TETHYS

Touring New Zealand by Car
December 2000, February, March 2001

Waipoua Forest Kauri Reserve
	The kauri is a massive tree. This specimen, called Tane Mahuta (Lord of the Forest) by the Maori, is about 1250 years old, has a girth of 13 metres, and stands 51 metres tall. If you look closely at the bottom of the left hand picture, you can just see Paula standing under the tree. Resin from the kauri, known as kauri gum, was gathered to make, among other things, varnishes and linoleum. It is still used to make varnish for high quality musical instruments. There are only a few very large trees left after 75% of the forests were cut down between 1800 and 1900. Most of the remaining trees have been protected in reserves since 1986.
Kauri is known to have been growing in NZ for over 20 million years based on fossilized kauri found in coal deposits. At least three times in the past, great kauri forests have covered Northland and then disappeared due to natural disaster or geological change. As the forests died, the kauri, which is a very stable wood, was buried in swamps where it was preserved. These huge old trees are still being dug up and the wood, known as swamp kauri, can be carbon-dated to as long as 45,000 years ago. Swamp kauri is much sought after by woodworkers because of the colours and mottling in the wood produced by the preservation process. Kauri gum, the resin from the tree, resembles and is related to amber. Gum digging was an important industry in the 19th and early 20th centuries. At first the gum was gathered from the forest floor, then later dug from the earth and swamps. Most of the gum was exported for use in making lineoleum and varnishes but some of it was polished and used in making jewelry, sculptures, carvings, and religious ornaments.
We had rain when we were at Waipoua, the first real downpour of our camping trip which up to then had been mainly sunny, with temperatures in the low twenties (C). Fortunately, the tent didn't leak.
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