New Zealand Tree Ferns

We walked up to the Kauri Falls today, along the old Tramline Track, where countless kauri trees were felled, and the logs dragged out of the forest and down to the sea, to be transported over the Hauraki Gulf to Auckland. The amount of effort in achieving this was staggering - and the long-term effects on the forests on Great Barrier Island are equally staggering, and sad. It's possible that the forests will never fully recover. It is still a beautiful walk though, with huge kanuka towering overhead, large stands of nikau palms regenerating under the kanuka, and some stands of the NZ treefern, or ponga. The Kauri Falls themselves are fairly light at present, due to the low rainfall that has been experienced lately. It's just as well there have been 3 days of rain since we arrived on the island.  We've not been able to plan any kayaking, because of the winds; they're just not letting up.