We were up early and left our campsite in Paihia and headed slightly north to KeriKeri to see the stone store and the oldest house in NZ. It was a beautiful day and we took the tour of the site which was very informative. The site was the first area where there was a long term relationship between the Maori and the Europeans. Hone Heke, the principal Maori chief looked after the missionaries and John Butler built the Keri Keri Mission house in 1821. The stone store was built in1836. After having lunch we headed to Hokianga Harbour on the west coast. We had planned on staying at a campground there but it no longer exists and is now a motel. After visiting the viewpoint, we headed south through the Waipoua Kauri Forest where we saw the huge Kauri tree known as Tane Mahuta, which is over 2000 years old. It is quite magnificent!! We continued south and stayed at a camp site that is a department of conservation camp called Trounson Forest Reserve campground. We discovered we were next to the Trounson Kauri Forest and were able to spend a couple of hours walking through the Forest. The Kauri trees can only be described as Gods work. Totally majestic and now in danger from a fungus that is spreading through the remaining Kauri forests. That evening we went on a tour through the forest again on a kiwi expedition looking for Kiwi birds. Didn't see any. On our way into the campsite off the main highway, we rounded a corner and there on the road in front of us was couple of ducks with about 12 little ducklings. They would not go off the road and ran in front of us for a long time until we managed to get by them. We were quite worried as the little ducks were pretty tired. Then, after getting by them, we came around the next corner and there was a large pig sauntering up the middle of the road. We had to shoo him off the road! Oh, by the way, when we went on our Cape Reinga trip, we got caught behind a camper similar to our own. Our driver informed us that the truckers called them "road maggots"! We found this totally hilarious and because our camper is a Volkswagen, we christened it Fritz the maggot. While we were waiting for our Kiwi expedition to start, we talked to a Maori who was leading the tour and he told us about the warfare that went on between the various Maori tribes. Because there was no meat bearing animals in NZ before the Europeans arrived, the Maori attacked other tribes to kill them to have a meat source. He said Hone Heke was the fiercest of all and there would be wholesale slaughtering. Very fierce people!!!