North Island – TRAVEL WORDS

Flashback Friday #45

Getting towards the end of the year now and my final post from the past. I couldn’t not show one from this lovely country, visited in December 2014 for the first and only time, I so hoped that I would have been back, but life has conspired against me. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t, but at least I have very fond and happy memories of this beautiful land.

New Zealand Wrap-up #1

A new week, a new country and a totally new destination for me. For 10 days I will be in the ‘Land of the Long White Cloud’, and several smaller rounder ones. Staying near my son’s ~~partner’s parents~~ in-laws in the Waikato (they got married there in February 2018) home to some of New Zealand’s most stunning landscapes. I may get to explore a little further, but I’m actually quite content to soak in the views from where we are staying and chill out with my new grandson.

Home Sweet Home

We are staying high above Ngarunui (Ocean) Beach. Located 5km west of town this wide expanse of black sand beach lends itself to lazy beach walks and picnics in the sand. It’s also a popular spot for surfing, bodyboarding and swimming.

Aqua

What transfixes me the most is the colour of the water – a cloudy, milky turquoise, possibly because of the black sand, which is the finest powder sand I have come across and glitters in the sun.

Surfing

Raglan is a small surfer town on the coast and boasts the world-famous surf break Manu Bay. The long, peeling left-hand break, said to offer one of the longest rides in the world, featured in the 1966 surfing film Endless Summer. Situated on the West Coast of New Zealand’s North Island, just a 45-minute drive west of Hamilton or a two-hour drive south of Auckland, Raglan offers stunning scenery, beautiful beaches, inspiring arts or simply a good old cup of coffee.

Surf Shop

Typical weatherboard house

Te Kopua Beach

Raglan Roast Coffee

Shops

Aqua Water in the Harbour

Golden

You may have eaten Kiwi fruit, but these are golden kiwi fruit and taste SO much better. Sweeter and without that odd chemical reaction that I and many others have when eating the green fruit. I am becoming addicted!

Christmas Trees

The pohutukawa tree (Metrosideros excelsa) with its crimson flower has become an established part of the New Zealand Christmas tradition. This iconic Kiwi Christmas tree, which often features on greeting cards and in poems and songs, has become an important symbol for New Zealanders at home and abroad. It is just about to flower so I hope to capture some good shots of trees in full bloom before I leave.

Happy Days…!

This post is a contribution to Fandango’s Flashback Friday. Have you got a post you wrote in the past on this particular day? The world might be glad to see it – either for the first time – or again if they’re long-time loyal readers.

Travel Photo #10

Su Leslie (aka Zimmerbitch) invited me to join her and other bloggers posting a travel photo a day for ten days. The deal is I also invite someone else each day to join in, and ping-back to my post. But as several bloggers I know are already busy with the challenge I am going to resort to inviting “anyone who feels like joining in”

This one is especially for you Su. Have a lovely Christmas and a happy new year 🎉🌹💐🌲✨

home thoughts from abroad

Home thoughts from abroad is a new series on Travel Words featuring a single photograph that reminds me of a country visited and showing something that uniquely identifies it as being ‘abroad’.

My one and so far only trip to New Zealand was four years ago. My son and his Kiwi partner took me over to Raglan to meet the in laws. I fell in love with the incredible green landscape of the north island and the black sandy beaches which sparkled in the sun.

This is the last of the Home Thoughts from Abroad series. I hope you have enjoyed travelling with me this year to places from my past. It has been lovely to go back in time and relive some of the many places I have been fortunate to visit.

The Auckland Domain Wintergarden

The Wintergarden is found in Auckland, New Zealand and was built in commemoration of the Auckland Industrial Agricultural and Mining Exhibition of 1913-14

It was designed in the early 1900s in the style of the famous English partnership of Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jeckyll – my favourite designers of the English County Garden style.

The building was opened on the 12 October 1921 for the benefit and pleasure of the public.

The two barrel-shaped Victorian glasshouses face out onto an open courtyard with a pond and mosaic fountain. Marble statues were added in the 1920s and 1930s and pergolas around the courtyard are covered in showy climbers.

One glasshouse is full of exotic flowers: gingers, orchids, palms, Heliconia and other rare plants. The other is for temperate climate plants such as the gorgeous blue delphiniums in the photos.

As usual my attention was drawn not only to the flora, but also the architecture of these buildings and in particular, the windows. Although the glasshouses need a little attention (well so would you after 100 years) the curved ends and decorative leaded windows are still beautiful.

The complex is completed by New Zealand ferns growing in a sunken scoria quarry to the rear.

This monthly challenge is hosted by Dawn from ‘The Day After’ who invites participants to post pictures of any windows that they find curious, inviting, photogenic, or in some way tell a story. Visit her blog to see more windows and/or to join in with the challenge.

Hills Road Walk

I have still got a few posts left in me about my travels at the end of last year – feels odd writing that as I haven’t yet acclimatised to being back in the UK. I keep expecting to see my grandson having breakfast, or being able to go for a walk along a beach. Sigh!

One reason for visiting New Zealand was to meet my son’s partner’s family and in particular, her parents who live in the delightful surfing town of Raglan on the black sands of the west coast of the South Island, about 2 hours south of Auckland. This is the Waikato region; a landscape formed by volcanoes creating a lush, fertile green pastoral heaven. It is no wonder that Peter Jackson picked this region for the home of the Hobbits (Matamata).

Raglan is overlooked by Mount Karioi in the Pirongia forest park, an extinct volcano. Although it would have been amazing to trek into the forest and among the Podocarps, such as rimu and totara which are found at lower altitudes, along with tawa and tree-ferns, the weather was against us, being too wet a lot of the time. I did manage a short walk along Hills Road, where the ‘in-laws’ live, with views towards Mount Karioi and Whaingaroa Harbour. Join me on this walk and enjoy the wonderful views all around in this picturesque part of the country.