Quick trip to New Zealand March 2015

[questa]

Recently I was in New Zealand for a few days. One of the things I did was a quick visit to the Botanical Gardens in Wellington, the capital.

The city is built right on the harbour and the surrounding steep hills have made the people build their timber homes up in layers up the hillsides.









Well tended garden beds lead past a native plants area to the rose garden. The national symbol for NZ is the Silver Fern.







Beside the rose beds is the conservatory.









I don't know much about flowers, but I have this one growing at home. It is called “Double Delight” It starts its bloom as a cream petalled rose, then the inner parts get a deeper yellow. At this point it has a sweet perfume. Then the edges of the petals go pink which 'flows ' down the petal, developing into a deep red petal with pale cream centre . Now the perfume is spicy. No two flowers have the same markings.





I'll shut up now while you enjoy the flowers...





















More on NZ later.

Uh-Oh...missed out on "turning" the photos...NB the flowers do not grow sideways in NZ

[htmb]

Beautiful flower photos, Questa. I love the Double Delight.

[questa]

Thanks, htmb, it was the end of the season and the city is not called "Windy Wellington" for nothing. Most of the rose beds were looking pretty tatty

[Deleted]

Even though the southern hemisphere is reaching the end of the season, it's nice to see what flowers there are, because we're going to have to wait a bit in Europe. All we have so far are the daffodils. Those last two photos are my favourites.

[bjd]

Yes, those begonias are lovely. I have never managed to grow any, despite several attempts.

It all looks very green and well-tended.

[tod2]

What a sight for sore eyes Questa!! My Oh my those photos are wonderful.
I know Double Delight well and had quite a few among'st my 130 rose bushes many years ago.
What are those pale cream flowers edged in pink? Spectacular! And that tangerine one -wow!

[questa]

"I only know two flowers...one is a rose and the other isn't"
This quote sums up my horticultural knowledge. The pink edged one is a rose of some name, and I'm guessing the brilliant orange flower is a sort of hibiscus.

[tod2]

I checked back with what bjd said "Those Begonias are lovely"....She is 100% correct! They are Begonias...except for the orchids of course! Thanks Bjd!

[nycgirl]

Very beautiful, especially that frilly peach-colored one.

[questa]

Wellington, NZ Airport

The movies of “The Lord of the Rings” saga are still having an influence there. As you walk around the departure area there are models of the characters watching you.

The women working in the gift shop have to move around these two



Smaug is rather creepy. His eyes are shut but as you get nearer, the top and bottom eyelids open in a truly reptilian slowness showing a blue pupil and bright light emitting around it. IIRC there was a rumbling roar as well.









Further down the hall was this eagle hanging overhead. Lighting was bad but I was impressed by the detail in the legs and claws.





Turn a corner and another eagle was carrying Gandalf over the diners' heads.





Then Gollum. He had such an expression on his face as he reached out to catch a fish.
I have included different close ups because the modellers had every vein, wisp of hair and fingernail down to perfection.













Oh Well, it was something different.

[bixaorellana]

My goodness -- you really saw some things on your jaunt!

Beautiful pictures of the garden. I remember the first time I ever saw a Double Delight, in the early 70s. Your photo does it complete justice.

I love that no one seems to even notice the huge amazing things right over their shoulders or flying overhead in the airport. I would have been running into people as I gawked. As you say -- something different. Super pictures.

[Deleted]

I wonder if the statues in the airport will become immortal classics or if they'll go in the bin in 5 or 10 years. With people being so fickle in this day and age, it is impossible to tell -- not to mention the fact that they can probably whip this stuff up in a month or two instead of having sculptors working on them 20 years. In any case, New Zealand is right to milk every dollar they can out of this saga because it was a brilliant decision to make the films there rather than in Wales or Scotland...

[questa]

Kerouac, everywhere we went people would point to an object or place and tell us where and in which film it appears. "That bridge was where so-and-so met whose-it." or "those mountains are where such-and-such happened." I have not seen any of the movies as I thought they would spoil my affection for the books, which I read in the '60s, but I might see them now as a travelogue.

[bjd]

Those poor women working in the giftshop. I wonder if they ever have nightmares after being surrounded by all those monsters during the day.

I too read the books in the 1960s and only saw the first movie.

[anshjain97]

This is all very interesting because I have never considered visiting NZ- but this is making me change my mind. Would love to see more.

[questa]

I had never wanted to go there either, anshjain. Only went for a re-union and visit a friend. Now I would like to live there...if it wasn't for my grandchildren being here...

[lugg]

Thanks Questa - great report and photos . loved sharing your quick trip with you. Maybe one day ...

[questa]

Thanks, Lugg. I have more about the country-side to share but I haven't had time to post them yet.

[bixaorellana]

We'll wait!

[Don Cuevas]

Mar 23, 2015 12:48:31 GMT questa said:

I had never wanted to go there either, anshjain. Only went for a re-union and visit a friend. Now I would like to live there...if it wasn't for my grandchildren being here...

I would have enjoyed visiting New Zealand for the natural beauty and especially, the caves.

[questa]

More glimpses of NZ

Wellington has a cable car as part of its public transport system. As the university buildings are spread out up the mountain side, this is a busy route, not just for tourists.

Climbing the hill let us see the harbour and city better.













Have you ever see working docks look so clean?

More NZ later...

[cheerypeabrain]

ooooh....that looks interesting lovely images btw. New Zealand is a place that I have always wanted to visit. My niece went to NZ on her honeymoon...when aasked where he'd taken his bride on their honeymoon her OH always says 'Mordor'

[mickthecactus]

Questa, could you pop over to Napier? I want some art deco pictures......

[questa]

There are heaps of art deco buildings in and around Wellington as well...specially regional towns. Seems there were big earthquakes which destroyed Napier and damaged other places. When the people built again, art deco was the rage for buildings and pictures.

[questa]

We went for a drive one day to a lonely cape with a lighthouse. Nearby was a natural rock pool which contained about 8 – 10 baby seals. Two big Mama seals sat on the rocks where the ocean water was coming into the pool, just in case one of the pups decided to head for Antarctica.

We watched the little ones race around the pool, splashing and jumping out onto rocks then back to the water and doing barrel rolls and splashing each other.



















Further along a seal was seeking shade so squeezed under this rock. You can just see a rear flipper, unless you can zoom in.

[mossie]

An interesting set of pics, those rocks look....well, rocky. Nice to see the young seals having fun.

[mossie]

An interesting set of pics, those rocks look....well, rocky. Nice to see the young seals having fun.

[questa]

Indeed, Mossie, it was the naturally formed aggregate of mineral matter constituting a significant part of the earth's crust, or rockiness

that attracted me in the first place.

[Deleted]

It's interesting to see that not all of New Zealand looks like Middle Earth, since those images are imprinted in our minds now. The last set of pictures could easily be northern California.

I really like the port pictures of Wellington. They set off my imagination about what it must have been like to discover a bay like that and then try to imagine the best way to set up a port town. That sent me off to look at this: www.google.fr/search?q=early+Wellington&biw=1920&bih=917&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=ralmVfyRLov3UOKcg8gM&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ

[questa]

More pics coming up in next few days...Wellington and scenery. Some of the buildings in K2's post are still there.