VictoriaApril 27
Mitch started singing this song in the luxurious RV shower last night and we can’t get it out of our heads as we get ready to celebrate returning our massive motorhome to Wilderness Motorhomes. Their slogan is “Leave the Ordinary Behind.” I guess we just prefer the ordinary.
We left Omapere early this morning and drove through the rich and colorful Waipoura Forest in daylight, enjoying the many kauri trees along the way. We headed south towards Auckland, where we will return the RV tomorrow and trade it back in for a car. 🙌 👏
On the way we stopped in Dargaville to stretch our legs and have a wander.
Not much to this town, we got back in Harmony and drove 30 minutes further to the Kauri Museum in Matakohe, a fitting follow up to our visit in the Waipoua forest last night.
The museum tells the stories of the Māori and European pioneers, foresters, sawmillers, gumdiggers and farmers who made this area their home. It explains how they cut down the trees with a variety of homemade tools. We saw the creative ways they moved the trees out of the forest. At first, they chained 15 to 20 bulls together to drag the wood. Later, they laid tracks and tried with rail cars. Other times, they floated trees down the river by building innovative dam systems that would move the massive timber to lower ground where they could cut and process it into usable planks.
The kauri tree is the obvious focal point of the museum and it talks about the history of logging, digging for its gum and the ingenious ways in which loggers used the wood. It was an interesting museum and a good way to spend a few hours learning more about the history of the forest here.
We got back on the road and headed to Red Beach, where we hoped to stay at the Top 10 park for our last night in the RV. We didn’t have a reservation as we hadn’t needed one the past two weeks. We missed getting the last spot by only a few minutes. They were fully booked.
The receptionist at the Top 10 park referred us to Orewa holiday park. We called and just our luck, someone cancelled moments before we called. Whew! We drove over and grabbed the last powered site. It was the largest and busiest park of our trip and a nice place right on the beach. I’m happy to report the showers were hot and untimed.
We cleaned up the RV, ran a load of laundry, cooked a quick dinner in the communal kitchen and packed up our things as we prepared for leaving Harmony in the rear view mirror.
