The cruise ship Caledonian Sky  visited the Bay of Islands. This cruise ship visits Natural Wonders of New Zealand. Adventure Puketi had the pleasure of guiding the entire 94 passengers on a hike through the Puketi rainforest. The passengers were thrilled to get up close to the Ancient Kauri Trees.

Full day hiking trip Rata flowering

One of our Hiking Trips in the Puketi Forest is a full day walk. Conservation in the forest is really noticeable now. The Northern Rata (Metrosideros robusta) is flowering again. The Rata is a tall tree, up to 25 m  or more tall,which begins its life as an epiphyte.The pseudotrunks, formed by the coalescing of descending roots after the supporting tree has died may be 2 m or more in diameter.

The bark is rough and flaky. The leaves are 2.5 – 5 cm long x 1.5 -2 cm wide,hairless, rounded and a little notched at the tip with the fine vein network clearly visible below. The flowers are red, with stamens 1-1.5 cm long. The capsules are about 7 mm long x 3.5-5 mm wide. The flowers appear during the summer and seeds are released during the following Autumn.

The giant centipede  and cave weta are present at night in the forest. The cave weta lives in dark spaces , in the Puketi forest we find them in the Giant Kauri trees that have been bled for gum.

The Centipede usually lives under or in rotten logs. They have large fangs that when bitten can be poisonous. On one of our recent night walks we encountered a group of cave weta, as we viewed them in the light from the spot light a huge Centipede attacked. It caught a Weta and bit it behind the head, wrapping the Weta with its body swinging from the tree by the remainder of the many legs on the long body. When the Weta stopped moving the Centipede climbed back inside the giant Kauri tree.

TEAM BUILDING.

BRING YOUR TEAM BIG OR SMALL INTO THE PUKETI KAURI RAIN FOREST .

EXPERIENCE OUR HALF DAY FORESTWALK ,MORNING OR AFTERNOON.

OR PERHAPS EVEN TAKE AN ADVENTURE ON DUSK WITH YOUR GUIDE, JOIN THE NOCTURNAL CREATURES.

ACCOMODATION AND CATERING CAN BE ARRANGED.

Feeds mainly on insects and moths.

It has a distinctive call ” Morepork” hence the name.

The Dawn Princess was followed on the same day as the Sun Princess.

The next day the Oosterdam arrived.

The Princess line passengers were awed by the size of the Ancient Kauri trees, they age from seedlings to 1200 year old trees.

The Oosterdam passengers walk a trail with many different associations of forest.

They encounter Flora and Fauna undisturbed.

Rewarewa (Knightia excelsa)

Rewarewa is found through out the North Island and in the northeast tip of the South Island of New Zealand,mostly in lowland Forests.

It forms a tree up to 30 metres tallwith a trunk up to 1 metre or more in diameter.

The bark is smooth.

The alternate leaves are thick and stiff with coarse pointed teeth,10-15 cm long x 2.4-4 cm wide.

The flowers are in dense clusters ,each with 4 red furry petals that coil  into tight spirals.

The fruit is dry and somewhat woody and the seeds are not released until a year later.

The flowers are visited by Tuis and bellbirds for their nectar.

Knightia, restricted to New Zealand, has one species.

On our fullday walk you will walk through Ancient Kauri trees Fifty meters tall, with many other ancient plants and tree species.

The forest floor has many different mosses,fungi and orchids.
The Greenhood Orchids are in abundance (Pterostylis alobula).