Cowboy Coffee

When we first got here, we bought what we hoped to be some good ground coffee at the grocery store. The coffee turned out to be pretty good. Everyone here uses a french press. At our second couchsurfing stay the host had no coffee maker. He drank instant coffee, and we’re from Portland, so we wouldn’t dare drink instant coffee! I had to improvise. I put some grinds in the bottom of the cup, poured water over it, let it sit a few minutes, stirred, and waited for the grinds to settle. It was actually a good cup of coffee. But because the grinds were at the bottom, it was not good to the last drop.

A Kauri Tree

Kauri Trees

When we were in the Northland of NZ, we learned the importance of the kauri trees. The kauri is a huge tree, not as big as the California redwoods, but grows to 165 feet tall and 15 feet in diameter. I saw an old photo of 51 people standing on a karui stump that had been cut down.

As the kauri tree grows, the bottom branches fall off, making the bottom half of the lumber knot free. Some times the first branch is 65 feet high. Because of the tight grain and knot free this was prized wood for making tall ship masks.

The exploitation of the forests and the clearing of land for farming decimated most of the kauri forests. Cutting down a kauri tree is no longer allowed. We went to one of the few remaining kauri forest, the Waipoua Forest, to see ‘Tane Mahuta’ the largest kauri tree in NZ (they name the large kauri trees).  At 1500 years old, Tane Mahuta is called ‘father of the forest’. We also got to see ‘Te Matua Ngahere’ and ‘McGregor Kauri’ the second and third largest kauri’s. They have an excellent kauri museum.

Ash (Ashley) and Josh the lamb

Our room is above the garage

The Farm

Driving in NZ

Our First Couchsurfing

We had a wonderful stay at our first Couchsurfing visit. We stayed with Bernie, Ash and their 6 year old daughter Courtney. They live on a 250 acre farm and raise cattle. They are very self sufficient, water from a pond is used for the toilet, and drinking water, and water for showers comes from rain water collected in a storage tank.

I especially enjoyed Ash’s shop. He and his father made their own saw mill from scratch 20 years ago and Ash hasn’t been to a lumber yard since. When he built a new garage with the bedroom above were we stayed, he milled all the stud, joists, wall paneling, flooring, stair treads, even the siding. He has a log peeler to make round logs for fence posts which he sends out to be treated for use in the ground.

They have a Kiwi on their farm and because they are becoming extinct it was equipped with a radio tracking device. Because Kiwi’s are reclusive, and shouldn’t be disturbed Ash said ‘you’ll never see it’, but I might be able to see one at a zoo.

Bernie worked in town at a school. We really enjoyed our stay with them. Don’t forget to click on the video.

Our Room