Coast to Coast

In Kerikeri we are next to the South Pacific Ocean but 100km west (via some detours and logging roads) is the Tasman Sea. My main image is a pano of the view from the Aria te Uru Nature Reserve looking away from the Tasmen Sea towards Opononi. Across the inlet you can see huge sand dunes. There are more further north at the top end of 90 Mile Beach.

My first extra is of staircase cut inside part of a Kauri tree. It is believed it had been preserved in the swamp for over 45,000 years. The growth rings shows it was 1087 years old when it fell! It is the largest kauri log ever known to be found.

My last extra is of a Swamp Hawk making a meal from road kill. Sorry if this puts you off your dinner. The meal is a Possum, considered a great pest in NZ on account of spreading TB to livestock and eating the foodstuffs of native creatures. In Australia they are protected, in NZ active culling has not reduced the spread or numbers.

Thank you for visiting my journal whilst I’m away. Sorry I haven’t replied or visited your Blips, it may stay that was for the next few weeks.