*
|
Trip around the world in 63 days, 2003
To go to the list of pictures: click
Here
Our plan was to make a big 8 on the Northern Island north of Auckland. Then pass Auckland again (we avoid big cities usually) to the south. In the north are still some Kauri trees. It is a big conifer with excellent wood, so 96% is cut and lost forever. The last big tree is the Father of the Forest (Te Matua Ngahere in Maori language), a stunning big pillar of wood, 4000 years old. Few remain from the original vegetation. In New Zealand humans are only 1000 years, the last 2 centuries the white colonist as well. But in 1000 year of dedicated destroying effort, most of the original nature is gone. Why is new Zealand so special? It formed 200 million years ago one super continent called Pangea with South America, Africa, Australia, India and Antarctica.. New Zealand drifted away and through its isolation and relatively small size, it retained many of the original species, which were lost due to climate changes and competition of other species. The tuatara for instance is an independent kind of animal , unchanged for 350 million years and vaguely similar to a lizard, only living here.