Came across these 2 last week , a Rimu and a Totara with barely a metre gap between them.
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Came across these 2 last week , a Rimu and a Totara with barely a metre gap between them.
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Was on the top of the Hauhungaroas a few years back, wondering why it was so dark all of a sudden in the bush we were walking through. Realised I was walking through the rotted out trunk of I think a totara, covered in moss lichen and fern. This thing was all of 2.5m diameter lying on it's side, with dirt flat across the bottom - basically an open-topped tunnel. Would probably have been 3.5m diameter standing up?
I dunno how long it would take for a tree to get that diameter, but I can tell you it's been on the ground a LOT longer than I've been alive...
Bloody big trees!! Nice bit of timber in that rifle stock too!
Cruising around in the northern kaimais and struck a cliff face, it was actually a giant kauri.
Awesome... It kind of sits you back on your bum when you work out that the giant thing in front of you is alive or was alive.
we had two huge totara cut and illegally logged out from the lower Patea dam - estimated $30,00 dollars worth - despite best efforts could not get leads locals went quiet despite it would have needed their barge to get the timber out lol
Timber like that is seriously impressive and hard to beat.
I spent a year in Whangarei as a first year apprentice and went to see Tane Mahuta, this was 2006 and I took my kids to see it as well when they came up to stay, that in itself is a serious Kauri, my flatmate whom owned the house said there were bigger trees in some forests than Tane Mahuta but DOC or other 'protective' parties weren't making those locations known. I believe that given ole mate's profession and I'm still in touch with him to this day.
bigger kauris no sorry rumour and I worked for DOC Kaitaia for five years -that is rubbish -and dont forget they can be easily seen from the air - yes there were a lot bigger kauris and substantially bigger kauris logged than Tane Mahuta now long gone - but living no Tane Mahuta is the biggest -
Big trees are pretty humbling, be neat to know the age of some you stumble into .
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Some very big totaras here in Geraldine. Thousands of years old. Look at some of the old logging photos,bulldozers on TOP of log segments. I recall good friend Reg D driving out of kaitieki with a single log on his unit...and he was way over weight. That was small tree compared to what went out in earlier years.
Yeah, Tane Mahuta isn't the tallest Kauri but as far as I'm aware it's the oldest and I think the biggest diameter one left standing. Impressive tree!Quote:
Originally Posted by Barry the hunter
Bushbashing in the Waitakere Ranges west of Auckland I spotted a huge cliff face too, and it turned out to be a huge kauri. From one side it would be the widest kauri ever, and I've spent a lot of time in Waipoua and Coromandel measuring kauri trees, but from a 90 degree position it was shaped like the bow of a ship, taper and all!Quote:
Originally Posted by SmokeyJason
Found one in Waipoua, the Yakas tree, that from memory is bigger in diameter than Tane Mahuta.Quote:
Originally Posted by No.3
I heard about this massive rata in the Abel Tasman and bush-bashed in there with a mate to have a look.
It would have started life as a seedling way up in the crown of another tree. It grew roots like vines down the host trees' trunk, eventually reaching the ground. A few hundred years later the host tree died and the rata became self supporting on it's scaffold-like roots. Now the host tree has long since rotted away you can see a gap in the rata root "trunk".
This rata would've had no value to loggers and it somehow escaped the burnoffs when the area was farmed.
Base of the tree was covered in kiekie all around so I couldn't photograph it. Higher up it was supporting good sized broadleaf trees and huge clumps of astelia.
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The 10 largest living kauri
Kauri are among the largest and longest-living trees in the world. This table shows the size of the 10 largest living kauri in 1986. Most of them are in Northland forest, with two (Tānenui and Tairua) on the Coromandel[ATTACH]261849[/ATTAC
here ya go hope it comes out[ATTACH]261849[/ATTAC
nah I give up it was a list of the top 10 Kauri
no sorry Tane Mahuta is biggerQuote:
Originally Posted by Ranger 888
Huge trees are awesome alright, Tane Mahuta I haven't seen but it's on the list. Was lucky enough to have massive Puriri and Rimu on our lifestyle block in the past. Love the NZ natives but was blown away visiting Sequoia National Park in the US of A. Look up the General Sherman tree!
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Apart from the fact that these trees have gone now, it is mind boggling that many of them were cut by hand and hauled out by bullock trains. I can't imagine many of the youths of today doing that sort of graft.
https://thumbnailer.digitalnz.org/?r..._pid%3DIE70895
holy moly as an old stockman I cant get over how bloody skinny those bullocks are - maybe they are a racing breed (joking)
Different times, different needs, different standards. A lot of things in times past are viewed as "wrong" when today's world view is applied to them.
as a wee fella i got dragged into forest to see a square trunked kauri, cant remember where but it was a tourist thing. should still be there.
but honestly till you have seen a giant redwood you cannot believe a plant can be so big. its like a building covered in bark
And it grows from one tiny seed.Quote:
Originally Posted by gonetropo
We've got various blocks of bush on the farm, some doc some queen Elizabeth trust in one of them is the only totara tree in hawkes bay to survive the land burns, it's pretty impressive, not huge buy other trees standards but huge in the totara world.
This block is the same. You wonder how on earth some survived. Considering how much Totara was used for fencing!.I wonder of someone stood at the base of them with axe in hand and just thought, "Nah F that!"https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...9ce2694161.jpgQuote:
Originally Posted by BRADS
Sent from my SM-G525F using Tapatalk
I tell my good Mrs NO...when she complains about the totara in our front lawn.its about 18" through and can be safe as long as I'm alive.
Moas would of been walking under some of those trees , makes ya feel a little insignificant
Thier birthdate will end with BC.....that's a scarey thought.
The Northern Ruahines has some of the oldest trees in NZ. The Kaikawaka and Halls totara up there, some are aged at 1200 years old. Stumpy little buggers in comparison but impressive nonetheless. But yeah, I see that those old Kauris are somewhere between 1200 and 3000 years old:o
I remember the article on Tane Mahuta getting struck by lightening, apparently it will take 100 years off the tree's lifespan. It's only 3000 years old or somesuch!!! A graze basically.
I'd just like to add a note of caution to this thread- tree appreciation can really muck up the hunt, so please be careful when you practice it. Went for quite a long excursion one day a few years ago with an arborist, we spent all day sneaking through the bush, then almost at the end of the day popped out into a Horopito covered slope, with several very large Rimu interspersed at 15 metre intervals and the low afternoon sunshine beaming through the understory. Transfixed, we both let our attention be drawn to the age old bark and gnarly branches, whereupon the 5 deer scattered throughout our immediate foreground noisily disappeared in 4 different directions. Tree hugging is for after the deer hunting.
I remember a stand of very old kahikatea on Fernlea Farm, not far from the Makaretu on that block. Some nice old trees in your area.Quote:
Originally Posted by BRADS
Sent from my SM-S906E using Tapatalk
This brings back some memories, while a forest foreman with the NZFS at Pureora, I got called into the office by the OiC. The aerial spraying company who did the Radiata pine dothi spraying said that their pilots were getting worried about flying amongst the dead native spars ( dead standing trees)in the pine plantations. As they flew lower than the dead natives, bits could fall off the spars as a plane was going past. The result would not be good. So my job was to go out into the pines and fall all the standing dead spars.
Armed with a stihl 096 with a 5 foot bar, taller than I was, away I went. Every tree was an ugly malformed monster. Left behind by the native loggers 10 years eariIer because it had no or little commercial value, or rotten. Weeks later the job was almost complete.
There was one Totara that I drove past every day. This one is going to give me trouble. Left for last.
The tree was complete except no foliage. A standing Pureora Forest Giant. Out in the middle of a Pumice quarry flat.
Leaning back on the trusty B1600 mazda ute having a smoke, as you did in those days. Eyeing the tree to see where it may fall. I decided that it was too dangerous to fall. Although standing straight as a die, it was hollow. In fact the local pig hunters used the tree to singe pork. A good three metres across you could live in it. Problem was, at the bottom of the trunk there was only about 100mm of wood holding a 50-60m high tree up. No wood for a scarf. Tree with no lean. Leave it alone and bring in the gelignite.
As I was contemplating this, one of the mechanical stall who shall remain nameless drove in. When I explained what I was doing he grabbed the saw and muttered something about how a man would do it. Oblivious to my words of warning, he started the saw and just barely touched the tree.
I’m sure you have all seen the 911 twin towers imploding. Well this is what the tree did. It was waiting, the trap was set. Then sprung
It collapsed in record time. When the dust settled, no mechanic. He was buried under tonnes of wood.
Do I radio for help first or confirm theres a body ? I start looking then hear a pathetic call for help. Pulling branches away I find a man crouched down and surrounded by a massive branch over a metre in diameter. It had grown almost in 270 degrees to form a circle and fallen around the fool protecting him completely. Helping him out of the debris, he walked to his vehicle without a word. Enough said.
The saw was not so lucky. I had to fill out the accident and write off forms.
Bloody good story, love hearing tales from people who had interesting jobs, especially before health and saftey got involved. When people knew how to do thier jobs safely without having to be nannyed .Quote:
Originally Posted by Huntertoo
Also what's that saying about experience being learnt just after you need it. Bet that guy never had a crack at another tree
you cannot teach some stupid bastards - we had at a big Urewera fire a huge rata that would spark up and start the tawa around going so we decided to blow it over -this was huge 150 feet high and 6 feet around the base - soo mate from Murupara turned up with a heaps of jelly and 10milk bottles full of urea with jelly inside and we loaded the trunk - the trunk was about 6 foot thru so we bored some holes in and packed it in - following best practice we loaded a scarf and we had a delayed detonator and in theory we would blow a scarf and the 1,5 seconds later we would blow the main trunk - we were using electric detonators so we loaded all the milk bottles in and wired it up - bloody mate bundled cord together and when I objected saying he will cut the charge cords from the scarf to our main charges states na all good - so we wind out all the electric cord we had about 200 metres - hook it up and press the charger - big boom but not two - muppet has to go back in to a rata with a couple of feet of remaining trunk and hook up the front charges -gets back we wire it up again and thru the trees over it goes - shit himself doing it literally
,,,
Not so much a giant in size, but certainly in age.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortingall_Yew
Visited it he’s of times in my younger days and always felt their was something quite spiritual about it.
Would that have been the square Kauri just off the tapu - coroglen road on the coromandle just north of thames.Quote:
Originally Posted by gonetropo
Z
If you're in Wgtn and want to show your kids an old-ish tree there is an 800 year old Rimu in Wilton's BushQuote:
Originally Posted by XR500
The viewing platform has gone in since I was last there
It's about a 40 min round trip from the carpark IIRC
Track is a bit shit in the wet for very small kids unless they've upgraded it
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/...ee-new-zealand
when I was culling down the Tehoe they were still native logging Mangataniwha saw some big rimu go out one short log and that's a load
Am I the only one that saw this thread and thought it was about me ? :D
