Dan wrote a quick blog of the stone expedition. This is a follow up about the area where we collected the river stones. The beauty of this island country is one of the factors that brought us here. I am not writing to be positive or negative but just commenting on what is happening around us in the Tutumoe Mountains.  We look out on the Tutumoes from our home and drive through them to get to the Pacific Coast.. What is happening here and all of Northland, North Island NZ. is LOGGING!!!! The pictures tell the story below. The logs are carried by trucks to the port and sent to Asian countries. The pine wood is not the best so is made into items such as pallets and packing crates and then probably sold back to NZ.  Not only is the land being clear cut and devestated but think of oil costs, wear and tear on the two lane roads, wear and tear on the gravel roads. Once out of Auckland going north, there are NO motorways, only paved very hilly, very curvy, lots of ess turn, roads for the main though fares. The rail system was discontinued in the far north years ago yet the tracks still exist. As you can see from the pictures, it is not selective cutting, thus many native trees like the Pongas are also destroyed. These mountains and valleys once were full of the Kauri, the second largest tree on the world. All gone now except in the parks where they are protected. As you can see, the arguments are many. North of here in very Maori dominated land the sign saying logging trucks had the T crossed out replaced by an F.