One of the things I wanted to see while here was the Southern Cross constellation, basically because it can only be seen south of the equator. At least, I think that's the case. Anyway, I'd forgotten about it most of the time. Then last night, I woke up at 5 a.m. and decided to go check. It was really clear, but no luck. Probably didn't help that I didn't really know what I was looking for or what direction it was. Oh well. Not likely I'll see it tonight, as we're in Auckland and it's hard to see the sky from the skyscrapers.
We've had a fun few days. After our rainy day, it was beautiful yesterday. We drove around an area called the Bay of Islands, which is just full of, well, islands. I guess it's great for SCUBA and snorkeling, but we didn't do any of that. Just drove around to see as much as we could. Which really worked out because we got to a kauri forest just before dark. I'd never heard of these native trees and they've largely been logged out of much of their natural growing areas. But they did preserve one large forest and we saw one of the big dudes.
The tree itself was about 5 minutes off the main highway and when we came to the viewing area for the star attraction, I heard E say "Whoa!" I hadn't seen it, so I turned and automatically let out a "Holy shit." Very understated. But then another couple came along and had the exact same reactions. I was paying attention. The tree is between 1,800 and 2,000 years old and has a circumference of over 5 meters. That's about 15 feet around. Just massive, and it was something like 100 feet tall. Really cool to see.
Today, we just drove to, then walked around Auckland. Interesting, major international city. We fly out tomorrow at 7 p.m. so we're preparing for a return to reality. Bummer on that one, that's for sure.
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