Russell to Ruawai

We were up relatively early and started on the road to see Sally's family on her home farm.
Our first stop was at Waitangi where the Maoris first signed a treaty with the British. This now a national site and was free for Andrew and Sally as New Zealand residents, but cost Rosemarie and I 25 dollars each.it seems to me that this is an oppressive tax on foriegners. The site is massive and beautifully looked after with magnificent views of the Bay of Islands. We visited the Maori meeting hall with some of the finest carvings we have seen anywhere in NZ. We also saw the official British residence set up now as a museum, which was really interesting. We walked down the hill to look at the longest war canoe in the world and then set off on the road again. This whole trip took about two hours and was very interesting both historically and in terms of the scenery.
The weather was good and we stopped in the forest to see Tane Mahuta, a giant Kauri tree in the forest. This tree is huge about a hundred feet around its girth and over a 120 feet tall.
We also walked down to see the four sisters, some slightly smaller kauri trees. These trees are very impressive and are lucky to have survived the logging of the twentieth century and now they are  almost national icons.
The drive through the forest was interesting and we made good time to Paul and Tina's house where we had a really pleasant evening with them and Peter and Jacky as well was Pam and herm partner and  Tony and his partner who spent most of the evening outside.
All too soon it was time to go to bed.