For my final postcards I am going to revisit New Zealand. An all too brief visit almost 10 years ago and one which I had hoped to repeat, but my enthusiasm for long haul travel has very much diminished over the years. My overall impressions were the colours of green and blue, rounded hills in the Waikato region, wonderful trees often bent out of shape by the winds, black sand, tree ferns, the long white clouds and excellent coffee. No words this time, just pictures.
New Zealand Part 1
Ngarunui (sometimes called Ocean Beach, Main Beach or Wainui Beach) is the main sandy swimming beach in Raglan. A magnificent black sand surfing beach. We were staying at the far south-western end of the beach about 6km out of Raglan.The wonderful rounded hills of the region. This is on the way to Raglan where we stayed.Mount Karioi is an ancient volcano about 8km SW of RaglanPsoralea pinnata, called fountain bush is an erect shrub or small tree, which grows up to 4 m high, with blue, lilac and white, pea-shaped flowers which bloom in early summer. A south African plant which smells of Kool-Aid!Taken near the Te Toto Gorge Lookout. A beautiful view from a platform, hanging high on the air at the top of sheer cliff – it’s reached by a narrow winding gravel track so take care.View from Te Toto Gorge Lookout up the coast towards Auckland. It is a very long way down!Wonderful greenery provided by the tree fernsThe views from where we were staying situated on a hilltop above Ngarunui BeachLots of pretty wild flowers and grasses along the roadside
I have lived in the UK for most of my life, but when young I definitely had wanderlust and even ended up living in South Africa for several years which was a wonderful experience. I now look forward to a long and leisurely retirement doing what I like most - gardening, photography, walking and travelling.
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18 thoughts on “Postcards from around the world”
It all looks very wistful, Jude. Did OH accompany you on this visit? It’s within my blogging lifespan but I don’t remember clearly (not even my own adventures!).
No. He was in Sydney with me, but returned to the UK after his conference. I stayed on for another 4 weeks, two of them in New Zealand. I always meant to go back and do a proper road trip.
Quite a lovely memory Jude
I have long had NZ on my I’d Like to Visit list and your photos rekindle that desire. But like you, it ain’t going to happen now. I’m not good at long-haul and jet-lag.
Beautiful pictures of a beautiful country.
Beautiful. Australasia is territory we haven’t visited yet at all…even though I have a nephew living in NZ. Those blues and greens actually put me in mind of the Cornish cliffs more than anything else. I am obviously overdue a Cornwall fix!
You could easily spend 6 months downunder. And one of the reasons I chose to move to Cornwall is because it reminds me of New Zealand and Cape Town.
It is much as I have always imagined it to be. I have two friends living there, former Ambulance Service colleagues from London. I always wanted to see the Art Deco town of Napier, but it is such a long way to travel, and expensive flights too.
Best wishes, Pete. x
You’ve only got one life Pete and you are still in good health. Maybe now is the time to do it. Break the flight up with stopovers. And maybe you can stay with your friends for a night or two?
Oh, that sea looks so beautiful! And the sky too. Makes me want to be walking along a sunny beach somewhere…
Beautiful images, and sadly somewhere I will never see now
Ah, yes. I have one, in flower in my final postcard.
I see what you mean about greens and blues, they really dominate these lovely landscape shots! We’ve never been to New Zealand and although there are parts I’d love to see, it’s such a long way (even though generally we don’t ming long haul flights) that I suspect other places will always take priority as they have done to date!
TRAVEL WORDS 
It all looks very wistful, Jude. Did OH accompany you on this visit? It’s within my blogging lifespan but I don’t remember clearly (not even my own adventures!).
No. He was in Sydney with me, but returned to the UK after his conference. I stayed on for another 4 weeks, two of them in New Zealand. I always meant to go back and do a proper road trip.
Quite a lovely memory Jude
I have long had NZ on my I’d Like to Visit list and your photos rekindle that desire. But like you, it ain’t going to happen now. I’m not good at long-haul and jet-lag.
Beautiful pictures of a beautiful country.
Beautiful. Australasia is territory we haven’t visited yet at all…even though I have a nephew living in NZ. Those blues and greens actually put me in mind of the Cornish cliffs more than anything else. I am obviously overdue a Cornwall fix!
You could easily spend 6 months downunder. And one of the reasons I chose to move to Cornwall is because it reminds me of New Zealand and Cape Town.
It is much as I have always imagined it to be. I have two friends living there, former Ambulance Service colleagues from London. I always wanted to see the Art Deco town of Napier, but it is such a long way to travel, and expensive flights too.
Best wishes, Pete. x
You’ve only got one life Pete and you are still in good health. Maybe now is the time to do it. Break the flight up with stopovers. And maybe you can stay with your friends for a night or two?
Oh, that sea looks so beautiful! And the sky too. Makes me want to be walking along a sunny beach somewhere…
Beautiful images, and sadly somewhere I will never see now
Your “trees bent out of shape” reminded me of New Zealand’s pōhutukawa trees.
Ah, yes. I have one, in flower in my final postcard.
I see what you mean about greens and blues, they really dominate these lovely landscape shots! We’ve never been to New Zealand and although there are parts I’d love to see, it’s such a long way (even though generally we don’t ming long haul flights) that I suspect other places will always take priority as they have done to date!