Sunday March 6 in Whangarei
After a delicious evening of good food (salmon), good wine (lots) and good conversation (fun and laughter), we awoke to a brilliant day.
Liz's garden is spectacular. I am so grateful that they are visiting us in May and not August. Otherwise, I'd have to do some serious work outside! We took a stroll through her beautifully landscaped grounds which border on the bush. Peering in, it looked cool and dark, dense with reality.
She has holly bushes, fern trees, lillies and roses in abundance and too many others to mention and whose names are foreign to me. That evening they arranged a *Kiwi Barbecue* with some Rotary friends, Habitat friends, and their son Jon and Audrey who are visiting on the way to a wedding. More on that later.
While Hans and Mike golfed Lize and I went to the Town Basin which was crowded with people coming off a Fun Run from the beach to the Town Basin. We found a pretty spot by the water and the yachts (sailboats) to have a latter before hitting some of the shops. It's an eclectic collection: from touristy places and expensive jewellry shops.
Later Mike took us on a *canopy walk*, a boarded walkway about 50'above ground and meandering through the forest. The occasional songbird trilled in the trees, but they are less plentiful today than in the past. We saw our first live Kauri tree up close, the mottle bark reaching nearly 50' above ground before the first branch. When a Kauri was selected for future use as a canoe, the Maori clearned the vegetation around it so that it became exposed to the elemens. The windward side would thicken and harden and eventually be used for the bottom. The lee side would sometimes be stripped of bark, causing the tree to rot and easing the work of those who later had to hollow it out.
Liz's garden is spectacular. I am so grateful that they are visiting us in May and not August. Otherwise, I'd have to do some serious work outside! We took a stroll through her beautifully landscaped grounds which border on the bush. Peering in, it looked cool and dark, dense with reality.
She has holly bushes, fern trees, lillies and roses in abundance and too many others to mention and whose names are foreign to me. That evening they arranged a *Kiwi Barbecue* with some Rotary friends, Habitat friends, and their son Jon and Audrey who are visiting on the way to a wedding. More on that later.
While Hans and Mike golfed Lize and I went to the Town Basin which was crowded with people coming off a Fun Run from the beach to the Town Basin. We found a pretty spot by the water and the yachts (sailboats) to have a latter before hitting some of the shops. It's an eclectic collection: from touristy places and expensive jewellry shops.
Later Mike took us on a *canopy walk*, a boarded walkway about 50'above ground and meandering through the forest. The occasional songbird trilled in the trees, but they are less plentiful today than in the past. We saw our first live Kauri tree up close, the mottle bark reaching nearly 50' above ground before the first branch. When a Kauri was selected for future use as a canoe, the Maori clearned the vegetation around it so that it became exposed to the elemens. The windward side would thicken and harden and eventually be used for the bottom. The lee side would sometimes be stripped of bark, causing the tree to rot and easing the work of those who later had to hollow it out.
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