I am building my boat out of some kauri beams which originally came from the old stables at Ellerslie Racecourse. Well, in fact, they originally came from a kauri tree which probably grew somewhere in the Waikato or Coromandel. I was thinking about this a few days ago as I sat on the beams in my garage.

Kauri trees, or those that are left standing, can easily live to be a thousand years old. I've got a piece of it on my desk now and from the number and curve of the rings I can see, it's a safe guess that my kauri tree was about five hundred years old when it was felled. The old Ellerslie stables were built in 1906. To begin with the building contained 34 betting station windows and a manual totalisator, a counter machine displaying the total shillings bet on each horse as well as the grand total for the public to view. The building was then altered in 1913 to house the world's first totalisator machine. So by the time the stables were 'carefully deconstructed' in 2018, my kauri beams had been holding up the roof for over a hundred years.

It seems entirely possible then, that my kauri tree was a sapling in the bush in around the year 1400. At this time the original Maori settlers of New Zealand were beginning to move inland from coastal settlements and many of the iwi in existence today were forming.

It is thought that the Moa became extinct around this time as a result of widespread hunting. And Rangitoto Island popped up as well.

It is quite sobering, in this age of instant communication, entertainment, and consumersim to sit on a piece of wood which very likely heard the conversation of a passing group of travellers exploring the heartland of their new country. It puts the fleeting fads and fancies of today into a thought provoking perspective. Perhaps the mark in the grain which I can see was caused by the end of a spear as it narrowly missed one of the last surviving Moa. Then, think of the sounds and stories to which my kauri was witness as it spanned the interior of the building at Ellerslie, as betting hall, tote house, and then stables.

Now it sits on the floor of my garage and is gradually being incorporated into my boat, which I decided only yesterday I shall call "Ellerslie".

Kauri is said to be one of the best timbers in the world for boat building. It is clear, straight-grained, strong, rot-resistant, not to mention beautiful. I would take it back to its birthplace and let it grow if I could, but I can't. I hope my boat will be a worthy guardian of the wood for the time being. Maybe someone will make a bookcase out of it one day.