Kai Iwi Lakes
Northland's Shining Jewel. Come stay and play at Kai Iwi Lakes, Taharoa Domain, one of New Zealand's best holiday spots. Only 3 hours from Auckland, 35 kilometres from Dargaville. Nestled amongst 538 hectares of premier recreation reserve with white sand freshwater dune lakes renowned for their jewel-like beauty and clear waters.
Real NZ heritage at its best - Matakohe Museum
Nestled in the picturesque west coast village of Matakohe, Northland, The Kauri Museum is one of New Zealand’s most amazing theme museums. Approximately 90,000 people visit our internationally acclaimed Northland heritage museum every year. Open 9.00am to 5.00pm daily (closed Christmas Day).
The Mighty Waipoua Forest- and why the forest is important to us
The Maori tribe Te Roroa are the Tangata Whenua people of the land, they lived here for hundreds of years, snaring the still to be seen Kukupa (native wood pigeon). In the 19th Century, the European first set foot amongst the giant kauris and the forests were soon exploited for their durable timber. Young kauri (known as rickers) were felled in their thousands to provide ship masts and spars.
Proclaimed a forest sanctuary in 1952, after much public pressure and antagonism at continued milling, - Waipoua and the neighbouring forests of Mataraua and Waima, make up the largest remaining tract of native forest left from the once extensive Kauri forests of northern New Zealand. The remnants are now under the protection of the Department of Conservation.There is no milling of mature Kauri trees nowadays, except under extraordinary circumstances such as for the carving of a Maori canoe.
Kauri seedlings need plenty of light, so Kauri trees usually begin life growing amid Manuka scrub land in forest clearings formed by windfall or fire. Adolescent trees form a tapering trunk and distinctive narrow conical crown. Tall adolescent kauri have narrow pole trunks, but as trees mature the trunk thickens and the lower branches are shed, giving form to the clean straight trunk of the adult tree.
Kauri forest contains an abundance of other plant types including large trees like taraie, kohekohe, kowhai and northern rata. Beneath the forest canopy, the understorey and shrub layers can be equally diverse. Underneath mature Kauri and tall dense stands of Kauri grass are prevalent. Mairehau, hangehange, neinei, kiekie and ferns are also common.
The forests of Waipoua are vitally important refuges for threatened wildlife. The endangered North Island Kokako is found in high, wet plateau country, but the small population is vulnerable to predation, and competition with possums. Waipoua may well contain the biggest remaining population of North Island brown kiwi, with numbers reaching into the thousands. The native forest parrots, Kakariki and Kaka are occasionally seen but are no longer common.
More abundant is the NZ Pigeon (or Kukupa) which plays a vital role spreading the seeds of many plants. Fantail, pied tit, Tui, grey warbler, shining cuckoo and kingfisher are also fairly common.
