Weather forecast was bad the day we left Coromandel Peninsula. We passed Thames, surprisingly a bigger town than Coromandel Town and drove towards Auckland, hopefully we could escape the threatening clouds. We actually saw the coastline north of Auckland as we drove south along the west coast of the Peninsula. We took a deisure drive to Auckland via Kaiaua along the coast, had lunch along Tamaki Drive, overlooking Mission Bay and then headed towards Warkworth, north of Auckland.
Surprise, surprise. What a treat we had in Warkworth!
When we reached Annie's Place (our B&B accom) at Warkworth the owner upgraded us to a one-bedroom cottage with a fully equipped kitchen and a nice lounge. We extended our stay by 2 days as the place was so cosy and comfortable.
The cottage is tastefully decorated.
As we would be returning home to a flat in a busy city soon, we might as well enjoy the homely environment of the cottage and the garden.
We could have breakfast or dinner on the patio facing the lovely garden. Different from our alfresco dining experience in the small balcony of our flat in Penang.
It rained and rained everyday at Warkworth. The garden looked fresh with the rain.
The Kauri Museum at Matakohe, about 80km from Warkworth was definitely worth a visit.
It showed how the early settlers harvest these giant native trees and their gum. The oldest living Kauri tree, a type of pine tree, is 2000 years old. Now Kauri is getting scarce in NZ, and grows in the northern part of the North Island.
An interesting feature of the museum is the Kauri Gum display - so many specimens of gum, big and small (no pictures as it was quite dark in the display room).
See how beautiful is the wood.
The largest kauri existing in NZ is Tane Mahuta (Lord of the Forest) which is 4.4 in diameter and 17.7 m to the first branch.
We didn't get to see that oldest tree as it was rainy, but we managed to see a 600 year old as well as an 800 year old Kauri tree at the Parry Kauri Park near Warkworth.
See how tiny i am against this 800 year old giant.
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