Northern New Zealand is all about trees. As our tour bus left the port of Whangarei, north of Auckland, on March 24, 2025, we passed huge piles of logs, ready to be loaded onto ships.
We then passed trucks filled with logs, heading for the port of Whangerei, as we drove further north.
Our first stop was Whangarei Falls, a beautiful waterfall in a deep gorge.
As we walked into the gorge, we passed huge kauri trees, unique to New Zealand. New Zealand has unusual animals and vegetation, since it has been separated from the major continents of the world for such long periods. The kauri trees were celebrities, with tourists crowding around to photograph them.
Our tour was named the "Kiwi Tour," but, in fact, we saw no kiwi birds. The kiwi house, located within the Whangarei Museum, was darkened because kiwis are nocturnal. The guide said there was, in fact, one bird in the darkened kiwi house, but neither the tourists nor our guide could locate him. That defect was duly noted by our bus guide and I noticed that the next Oceania voyage to Whangarei did not feature a Kiwi Tour!
Oh, well. There were lots of other great things about the Whangarei Museum besides kiwis. Our museum guide walked us through the garden and pointed out all the plants unique to New Zealand, including this large kauri tree.
The museum also included exhibits on New Zealand history and art. Our guide compared these six carved wood panels, explaining how they represented different styles of indigenous art from different parts of New Zealand. Some panels featured angular figures, others sinuous ones. Those differences marked the homeland of the artist.
We had time to wander around Whangarei's Town Basin. Dave and I visited Hunderwasser's Vision, a building and gallery created by a German artist. It was a wonderland of strange shapes and bright colors that reminded me of Gaudi's buildings in Barcelona. It was definitely more my style than David's!
Hunderwasser's paintings stretched my imagination, although I like modern art much better than I did 25 years ago. It is an acquired taste, but slow to acquire!
We browsed the other art galleries of Town Basin and chose a handmade bowl to take home with us.
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