Tauranga (Rotorua), New Zealand
We docked at the cruise ship dock not far from Mount Maunganui. In fact, you could watch the strollers and joggers on the path around the mount as we pulled into port. Pulling into port we saw, for the first time, another cruise ship in port. The Carnival Splendor was dock along side us. It is humongous in comparison to the Mariner. Accordingly, to online statistics it is 952 feet long and carries 3,012 guests.
That is three times the number of guests we have. Luis, the executive concierge, has arranged a taxi to take us to Whakarewarewa Forest. Whakarewarewa Forest one of Rotorua’s most spectacular natural assets and one of the city’s greatest treasures. The forest is well know for its magnificent stand of California Coast Redwoods from the Elk River Mill and Lumber company at Falk, Humboldt County, California. Oh yes you read that right.
Here is an excerpt from the Times Standard interview with Harry Falk (1889 – 1972).
“In 1901, Elizabeth Quick, a school teacher at Elk River, spent her weekends digging up redwood tress about two feet in height with as little disturbance to the roots as possible. The roots and dirt surrounding them were wrapped in burlap, securely tied around the base of the tree. As a small boy, I thought it fun to help the teacher. We carried the trees to flat cars. They were shipped to New Zealand.”
“Recently, our son Harry W. Falk, Jr. made a business trip to New Zealand. I gave him the above information with a request that he make inquiry regarding those trees. He returned the enclosed photo with information which would indicate these might be the same trees shipped by Miss Quick. He says if that forest was in the United States it would be worth millions of dollars.”
The article goes on to say, “The 15 acres in the Memorial Grove are only a small part of a greater area planted in 1901 in a mixture of larch and redwood.” (add footnote Redwood Country Andrew Genzoli The Times Standard Dec/24/1971)
The Whakarewarewa Forest is in Rotorua about 75 km from the cruise ship terminal. We left the ship at 10:00 to meet the taxi. All we really knew is that it would meet us outside the gate of the cruise port. Well at 10 o’clock the Splendor began unloading their passengers so they could go ashore. There we were with two or three thousand other people exiting the port.
Unlike the Mariner it seemed that the Splendor didn’t offer excursions. There many, maybe 50 or more tour companies offering a variety of tours for the Splendor guests. It was a free for all. The tour people offering tours, Splendor passengers looking for tours and us looking for our taxi. Fortunately, we were about a half hour early for the meeting, so we sat on the breakwater wall and watched they mayhem. Surprisingly within thirty minutes most of the people we gone. The taxi stand was just a bit down the road so I hoofed it down there but didn’t notice anything. Went back to the gate and waited. Almost exactly at 10:30 a man showed up with a sign with our name.
We were off to the forest, or so we thought. After all the smaller islands we have been on this one was a lot larger. We traveled though town, into the countryside. We passed fields of Kiwi fruit, wheat, corn and forests. It looked a lot like driving through Sonoma and Napa counties, except for the Kiwi fruit.
We drove through Rotorua, a beautiful little town which reminded us of downtown Sonoma, except maybe a little larger. We passed a road that looked like the turn off for the forest, but we relied on the driver believing he knew where he was going. He pulled into the geyser site parking lot. I showed him on my phone that what we wanted was Whakarewarewa Forest not the geyser.
He said ok, and turned around and headed in the direction of the turnoff we saw earlier. Thinking about it, it was probably the geothermal activity that brought my father here. He was very interested in geothermal energy at the time. We turned off the road and headed towards the forest area.
Online it said the Whakarewarewa Forest was over 13,000 acres of forest. We arrived at what looked like a very commerical operation. There were a lot of redwoods, some of them big enough to be over 100 years old. Unfortunately we arrived shortly after one of the tour buses from the Splendor so that place was covered to tourists.
We looked around for an office or ranger station, but none was to be found. There were a variety of outdoor recreational opportunities; mountain biking, walking tracks, an elevated walkway in the trees and other things. There was a small building with a coffee shop and souvenir shop, but the tourists filled that up and made it difficult to get in.
Looking for someone incharge or with more information, we entered the shop choose a t-shirt which had the redwoods on it and headed to the counter. We tried to get some dialogue going with the counter person but there was a line and she was really busy. Bought the t-shirts and left. We did find a map with a pathway to the memorial grove and headed there. We walked though a magnificent stand of California Coast Redwoods but found no additional information.
Back near the shop there was couple selling farm to table vegetables, sandwiches and drinks. We bought a sandwich and some French fries. There was an opportunity to talk to the woman working as the cashier. We told her who we were and our connection to the forest. She seemed surprised but interested. But had no idea of the history of the grove.
We walked around a little afterwards and found the memorial grove by again no information. diverse range of exotic tree species, mix of native undergrowth, panoramic The grove of redwoods combined with the ferns and fresh air did remind us of the similar groves in California. It was truly a special thing to experience.
After an hour or so we called the taxi to return and take us back to the ship. Perhaps a little disappointed in not being able to share our story. There were a lot of local people just enjoying a Sunday in the forest with their family. Harry Senior would have been pleased. Honestly it brought back memories of going to the Sequoia Park in Eureka with him as a child.
We were dropped off near the port gate, but rather than return to the ship we decided to walk through town and see if we could get something to eat. On the main drag, Maunganui Road, we found a little Thai restaurant called EasyGo Thai. We order some pad Thai and chicken satay. Definitely different from things with the same name in California, but still tasty.
Afterwards we headed back to the ship. Rested for a little while and then had Neeraj, our butler, bring us a cheese plater for dinner. Then it was good night.
Buonanotte e ciao, Enrico.
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