Kaikohe, Opononi and Dargaville, Stationary engines and sand dunes

We left Paihia and went to Kaikohe and visited the heritage park. This is a collection of relocated old buildings filled with collectibles as well as lots of farm machinery and many stationary engines in various barns and in different states. It was nice to wander round and then make our way west to Opononi where we saw the huge sand dunes across the harbour. After a scenic walk we continued in hot weather to Waipoua forest famous for Kauri trees and stopped to walk to Tane Mahouta the largest tree which dwarfs the others and is about 1500 years old, a magnificent specimen. Later we drove down to Dargaville and went to the museum on a bluff overlooking a huge wide sweep of a river. It was excellent with a good gum diggers section, after which we had dinner at Joe's cafe aand continued through heavy rain to arrive with Chris and Emma at 8pm, another lovely day.