Friday, July 29, 2011

The Mighty Kauri Tree

The Kauri tree comes from one of the most ancient tree families ever discovered and is found in New Zealand and Australia.  It is the second largest tree in the world.  This one is just a baby at a mere 800 years old.  They can live to be several thousand years old.

Raglan, New Zealand

On another Saturday jaunt, we went to the temple in Hamilton, then drove to the west coast, which has 'wild' water.  Years ago there was a surfing movie called 'The Endless Summer' (so I'm told), where a group of surfers traveled the world chasing the sun and surf, and one of the places they stopped was Raglan.  Around the next bay from this shot we watched some surfers who were satisfied with winter water in Raglan.  It was cloudy and rainy while we were here but at sunset, the clouds parted for just a few minutes allowing the sun to sweep across this landscape.  I've lost track of how many spectacularly beautiful beaches we have seen in three months, and we still have many, many more to see!