From Auckland to Paihia

We took a longer route up to Paihia (from Aukland) which took us over to the west coast (Tasman Sea) for a bit. The drive was beautiful, a lot like California, but greener, and you have it all to yourself. There are even big trees — we stopped to see the largest living kauri tree, third most massive tree in the world. The remaining kauri trees in New Zealand are all protected, but I bought a couple of kitchen utensils made of kauri wood that was pulled from a bog. The wood has a beautiful, golden luster.