Turn your sound up high to listen to the ASMR happy sounds of redwood trees creaking in the wind, sounding like old-fashioned rocking chairs…
Most people know of the redwoods of California, where trees are so awe-inspiring that they’ve got names and their Avenue of the Giants. But did you know that New Zealand has its own redwood forest? For our New Zealand vacation, we’d seen a bit of Auckland, then Rotorua, later Huka Falls and Craters of the Moon and Waitomo Glowworms Caves, then Taupo and Pirongia and Hamilton Gardens. Later in Australia’s Gold Coast, we visited family and birds of Australia Part 1 of 2 plus Part 2 of 2, and then we marveled at the Spectacular Views in and Around Gold Coast, enjoyed a delicious meal on the beach, saw some wild things and cute things at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, had fun with Rita Rigby, met the beasts of Brisbane and the beauty there, and enjoyed Sydney this much and that much, as well as the purring there!
Now we got out of our car and hiked up, up, up…
da-AL strolls up to New Zealand’s redwood forest.Back in the early 1900s, New Zealand officials admired our redwoods — and then planted some of their own! — resulting in the Redwoods Forest of Whakarewarewa. New Zealand soil is so dense with nutrients that the trees grew faster there than they do in the U.S. Like California’s, New Zealand’s big trees provide homes to an abundance of wildlife, including endangered creatures.
Trees actually talk to each other, creating an ecosystem among themselves that feeds everything from below their roots to far into the air! Redwoods can live for thousands of years — unless humans cut them down or pollute them to death. Alas, the largest was felled around 1945. The most massive tree on earth now is the General Sherman, at 83.8 meters (275 ft) high by 7.7 m (25 ft) wide. The world’s oldest tree lives in California too — a bristlecone pine that’s 5,068 years old. Let’s hope we don’t kill them or their kin.
A little further along, we stopped to pet corrugated animals in the city of Tirau!…
What’s the biggest tree you’ve ever seen?
Happiness Between Tails by da-AL 
What a beautiful sound! We have some very old and big trees on our property–one of them was planted by a neighbour over eighty years ago–he passed away last year at the age of 92, but the tree he planted lives on:-)
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what a wonderful way to remember him 🙂
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This is the link one can search
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodda_Alada_Mara
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thank you 🙂
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daAl this is one good information about Redwoods it is surprising a 5000 years old tree still lives.
I seen a tree which is called as The Big Banyan tree in my state Karnataka India.
Here is some information
The Dodda Aalada Mara(ದೊಡ್ಡ ಆಲದ ಮರ),literally translated to Big Banyan Tree, is a giant 400-year-old banyan tree (Ficus benghalensis), located in the village of Kethohalli in the Bangalore Urban district of Karnataka, India.[1] This single plant covers 3 acres (12,000 m2) and is one of the largest of its kind. In the 2000s, the main root of the tree succumbed to natural disease, and thus the tree now looks like many different trees.
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how interesting~ I am glad that the tree didn’t completely die
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nature is awesome in New Zealand !!
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da-AL, I’m happy to learn that redwoods exist elsewhere in the world than in coastal California soil. With an increasing number of 1st growth redwoods in California falling to the axe and saw. last year I came up with the following.
2000 YEARS A TREE
© Barbara Grace Lake 2018
I rose from sediment and mold
Two thousand years ago and more
I fought with elements, made war
Against all forces, known-unknown
Those animals whose step would crush,
A bolt of lightning’s blasting fire
Colossal creatures near my grove,
Perhaps unseen, oh let them pass
They’re huge, so big and I’m so small
A giant foot directly up
It’s coming down. It’s crushing me
Into the earth. I’m smothering
All living things are running wild
The lightning, thunder deafening
I smell the scorch of burning trees
Not me, not yet, please let me grow
A bolt of hell fire strikes the ground
My branches burn. It hurts, it hurts
The river’s rising to my feet
I send out roots to hold the mud
But can they grasp? One just let go
And now another one. Dig deep
Entrench, hold mud, hold earth, hold tight
If not our life will wash away
Two thousand years and more I’ve lived
To grow immense. three hundred feet
My shady paths give life to ferns
Green carpet grows abundantly
When looking up men cannot doubt
They’ve sensed a godlike majesty
My girth provides for many home
Ten men it took to measure me
For cutting saws? They shred the air
I hear the screams of sister trees
Now at my feet, the saw’s first bite
Two thousand years of life erased.
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well written & very moving, Barb ❤
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Wow, those corrugated animals are incredibly ‘quirky’ and distinctive! xx
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Awesome soundtrack and photos of the trees there. I did know there were other Redwoods other than in CA but I am most familiar with the ones in CA as I was born and raised in Southern CA and have had the pleasure of walking amongst the Redwoods in Northern CA. They are awe inspiring. Thank you for sharing.
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