The Kauri Forest

The kauri tree is a huge tree that is almost extinct here in New Zealand.  It has a very interesting history which I will try to share but I am not sure I will have it correct.  I have done a bit of research but I could still be incorrect so if you are planning on doing a school paper on it or teach a science class a bit more study and research might be in order!  This is a quote.

Kauri are among the world's mightiest trees, growing to more than 50 metres tall, with trunk girths of up to 16 metres and living for more than 2000 years. Kauri forests once covered 1.2 million hectares from the Far North of Northland to Te Kauri, near Kawhia and were common when the first people arrived around 1000 years ago.

We went to a forest where they are protected. There is a huge tree there that you are supposed to hug.  Makes you kind.  

This is looking up to the top of the same "kindness" tree.  It is in kind of a subtropical forest.  These trees cannot be cut down now because there are not many of them left.   

The "kindness" tree is as big around as this small table. And the biggest kauri tree that has been found in as big around as the walkway that all the people are standing on.  

Now this is the part of the story that gets a bit difficult to explain.  Thousands and thousands of years ago (30,000 they say at least) the land in the north was covered with kauri trees.  Also existing in the land were many volcanos.  Because of the very shallow root system of the trees when there was a volcanic eruptions the trees fell over.  This happned time and time again.  Over those thousands of years the trees were buried.  Because of the water and the volcanic soil and for many other reasons I am not sure of these trees were preserved in the ground.  When they started to prepares some of the fields to be proper pasture land they found these huge trees deep in the ground.  And because of that very special soil the trees did not decay.  Many of them still had green leaves on them.  They then started a business of digging these trees up and recoving them to be used in woodworking.  

This is a poster that talkes about how they did it.

These are some of them that they have in the parking lot of a store where they sell the things they make. 

This is a Maori design of a hook.

And this is a throne.  Imagine how big the tree had to be for this to be carved from one piece of wood.

This is a field where some of the smaller remaining parts of the kauri trees are still sitting.  The big parts have already been sold and these are just wiating to be sold for smaller things like ornaments or bowls and such things.  Then they will dig up some other fields and salvage those trees.