365 Days of Fun and Chillaxation – 355 – The Kahikatea
Today I found myself surrounded in old native forest with some of my most favorite people. As we walked deeper and deeper into the forest I felt myself absorbing the clean air and relaxing.
This is despite holding the hand of a very tired little boy who was not in the mood for a walk, yet didn’t want to miss out on the adventure with his cousins.
Anyway, back to the forest. I decided to be steady, patient Mum and we eventually found an old Kahikatea tree. It was the last one standing. I know that this species of tree prefers to stand amongst friends, and for some reason, people had left this tree to grow tall and wide.
I stood there pondering the history of this great tree, thinking about the generations of people, perhaps some my ancestors it must have felt passing by it’s great trunk ever since it started out life as yet another tiny seedling. We leaned against it and I had the feeling that this was a fine, healthy and moderately young tree, despite its size. I marveled.
And then my dog found some old fish to roll in, which I did not marvel at. So we shifted out adventure to the river …
Today’s rating: 10/10
365 Days of Fun and Chillaxation (as I raise my gorgeous son and grow my good news website to a subscription base of 100,000 people). The Low Down on this Blog.
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Thanks for writing this Charlotte.
I find Kahikatea a true rangatira rakau of the forest, and often find myself leaning against them, or with an open palm outstretched and finding an apporpriately mossy patch.
How can we not appreciate these majestic beauties soaring to the skies. I read the other day that there is a totara on the banks peninsula that was cored & found to be still growing at 2500 years.
I recently spent a few days up on Mt Taranaki, and was moved by the beautiful Mountain Cedars / Pāhautea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libocedrus_bidwillii) which looks very similar to a Kahikatea- only a little more stumpy. I marvelled at their resilience to freezing temperatures, volcanic soils, and blasts of southerly winds… but they stood strong and tall, like true chiefs.
I would suggest that all of us should spend a day sitting in one place in the forest, beneath a rangatira rakau, and not move – just sit with our back to it and appreciate that it has been living for at least 10 generations of our ancestors.
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Sam, thankyou for your beautiful comment. I too see some of those old trees in their chiefly forms. They’re old, they’ve seen some life, and they’re certainly alive in all senses of the word. Some may see them as mere trees, as nothing, just wood, but I know I’m not alone in feeling their wisdom, and their mana. We’re lucky to have old trees in our communities here in Aotearoa. I agree, it’s good to lean against a tree and listen to it. We may be intellectual people, very good at using our minds to dream up new ideas, but we’re also feeling people. We sense far more then we often give ourselves credit for. Spending some time in the company of a tall, old tree is a great way to relax the heart, calm down and gain some perspective.
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