Day 9 - Swamp Kauri & a Beach Walk

12/23/2014

While I chat with the landlady, the smoke alarm goes off. Great - I didn't have to explain what that thing does. Chris, the husband, puts his two crutches aside and steps on an old beer crate to turn off the alarm and replace the battery. After that, it's quiet. The landlords are an older couple, he's Dutch and has been living here for over 60 years. They are both at least in their late 70s.

After breakfast, I go down to the beach. It's high tide and walking is impossible because the only walkable part of the beach is the one furrowed by car tires, and you stumble only in the grooves. Totally annoying, and after fifteen minutes, I've had enough and sit down to watch a few surfers. 

It's overcast and doesn't look like it's going to change. It's uncomfortable, so I decide to do some work - writing my journal and correcting typos in it. The mobile keyboard is a bit quirky and often types letters two or three times, and I often don't feel like correcting it all while writing. Now there's a complete overhaul on the terrace while Chris tries to fix the huge grill on one leg because there will be a barbecue here for Christmas.

On Chris' recommendation, I drive to the other end of the Ahipara Bay, where there are several small accommodations on the beach, which are also great locations, right on the beach. 

Ahipara Bay

But my destination is a house above the beach, easily recognizable because of the Irish flag in the garden, hanging crookedly on a flagpole made of several broom handles.

The old codger who lives here and is known to everyone as 'Irish' is - how could it be otherwise: Irish. He's estimated to be 70 years old (or his life makes him look older) and has had an eventful past. He had a pub in Erlangen, lived in Indonesia and Japan, is a golf professional, and about 20 years ago, he settled here in New Zealand, in this dream place. He bought the property, eventually demolished the old house, built a new one, and started working with Swamp Kauri wood nine years ago.

'Irish' with a piece of Swamp Kauri

Thousands of years ago, there were huge Kauri forests, especially in this area. It's not exactly clear why they sank. There are several theories. The fact is that thousands of these trees are buried under several meters of marshy soil. Even the gum diggers, who were only looking for the resin of the trees, dug through these swamps. The soil on the peninsula up here has a chemically special composition that preserves extremely well. The man tells me that the wood is still considered waste practically today because it only bothers the people who want to make the land fertile because it leads to hills under which there are plenty of these old tree trunks. The preservation is so good that even leaves are still green when you first move the soil aside. Within 2 or 3 minutes, they turn brown, mushy, and wilted. You can see the process of years within minutes. He gets the wood in larger pieces, which he then stores in his shed. The wood needs to be dried for up to a year to be processed better. The wood inside the stem is the better, more beautiful one.

From his workshop, we go into his house - a dream. Actually a simple house, but with an open floor plan and a terrace above the Ahipara Bay and the 90-Mile Beach. The green hill is on the left, the sea and the endless beach in front of it. His kitchen counter, like the bed in the guest room, is a display area for his beautiful bowls, plates, bowls, coasters, etc. - all made of Kauri and Swamp Kauri wood. Everything is surprisingly light, so I decide on a larger bowl made of Swamp Kauri and a small bowl made of Kauri wood. Excited! My Christmas present for myself!

The weather has now become a bit friendlier, and shortly after, I enjoy the great view of the bay to the north. I drive back to my accommodation, grab my cameras, and go to the beach, which is now at least 50-80 m wide during low tide. Small tidal channels are visible, and I walk north. Several opened large sea urchins are lying together, and elsewhere, there are lots of identical-looking white shells, all opened. Hardly any people around, if any, with pickup trucks or motorcycles and quads.  I enjoy seeing several cars getting stuck in the sand and the effort to get them out. Even the towing vehicle gets stuck - a delightful spectacle for me ;-).

I had actually planned to ride a quad, but somehow it's too foreign to me to tear up this great beach with such a monster. I walk back and forth on the beach for two hours, mostly in a crouched position, to look at or photograph shells. It's already 6:00 p.m. when I get back. 

Today, I'm having salad and a bun. I upload my pictures and go to bed around 10:00 p.m., trying to watch the HeuteShow in the media library but falling asleep. Unfortunately, some mosquitoes are annoying. But no more smoke detector. After it gave a fire alarm at half past six this evening, the kind soul who lives next to me and is probably the cleaning and housekeeper here simply unscrewed the thing and that was it.

Daily distance: 10 km