Walks in Wellington, always take you through under or around the Pohutukawa trees. They are everywhere and flowering profusely.
The Pohutukawa trees are almost always flowering at Christmas. So, although we do not chop them down and drag them inside and hang tinsel on them, these are our New Zealand Christmas trees. They sing holidays to us.
This big green patch in this valley is the local primary school.
Some of these big fancy modern expensive hilltop mansions are not pretty but they certainly have the view. The joy of the hills around Wellington is that even from an ordinary hilltop house the views can be pretty incredible.
Wild fennel.
I commented to my son how I was hearing more birdsong than in recent years and he told me about the determination nationally to get rid of the rodents that prey on our precious native birds. It seems to me that even though the official programme has been up and running for about a year, with government funds now, there are definitely more birds. I can hear them. t is a wildly ambitious plan but we all LOVE it.
He also told me that the new Labour government in New Zealand has decided that the first year of university education is free for all New Zealanders. Education is the key component to keeping a country alive and thriving. This is not new, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland. Austria. Belgium. Czech Republic and Germany, are a few of the countries who also have free tertiary education for citizens.
Oh, my breakfast in bed, (whipped cream on Vogels toast – my favourite bread – with two blueberries and three raspberries placed in a smiley face pattern) has arrived. Hmm. An interesting breakfast. Time to get up then?
In Illinois, it looks like it is still OK, weather-wise, but next week the temperatures will plummet.
I hope you have a lovely day.
celi
WEATHER: WELLINGTON. Cloudy and moderately windy (for Wellington).
Friday 12/22 20% / 0 in
Morning clouds will give way to afternoon sunshine. High 69F. Winds SSE at 15 to 25 mph.
Friday Night 12/22 10% / 0 in
Partly cloudy. Low 57F. Winds ESE at 10 to 20 mph.
Sun
5:44 am 8:54 pm
Moon
Waxing Crescent, 10% visible 8:58 am 11:27 pm
c
The Kitchen's Garden 
53 responses to “POHUTUKAWA”
It must be lovely to be home, Miss C. Happy Christmas!
It is lovely darling – yes!
What an amazing tree and fabulous view!
Yes the views here are just wonderful .
Ahh ~~ to be home!!! So happy for you and bet your Family is happy too!!! Love the “Christmas” trees! And the views ~ nice!! And breakfast in bed sounds tasty!!! Enjoy!!!
Breakfast in bed is a really treat! Especially delivered by a 5 year old.
Merry Christmas! Love the view.. enjoy your family :*)
I hope you have a wonderful christmas too!
Amazing views.
Humans manage to cause the extinction of animals without trying, surely when we make the effort we can get rid of the invasive ones.
New Zealand has many native birds but no native mammals (even the kunekune were introduced in the 1800’s) so they have been awfully susceptible to these invasive animals.. I think the idea is great – daunting but they are not afraid to take it on..
Beautiful views and quite calm for Wellington. Glad to hear the birds are returning but a red flag raises its head when I hear man is going to destroy a species, this just has to upset the ecology and natural food chain, causing another problem elsewhere? Here is hoping the Young Chef hasn’t discovered cinnamon sugar butter on baked potato recipe yet 😂 Laura
None of these animals are native – they are very recent additions and have caused some terrible destruction.
I love getting your blogs from around the world, but especially from your home. Vogel’s bread looks and sounds lovely…and I don’t know whose idea it was to put whipped cream and berries in a smiley face, but that person is a person after my own heart! i will whipped cream and berried on anything. Even, and especially, fingers.
I miss Vogels terribly – in fact I went through a period of trying to make vogels at home but it never was the same – now the kids make sure to have some in the fridge when I come!
lovely views and a lovely time….enjoy!
Yes – altogether lovely
Beautiful views. And what a great approach to education, marvellous.
Educating your young is a great investment in the future – like planting a tree.
Only moderately windy? Does it feel like home without gale force winds?
Wellington is known for its gale force winds!
Hello Ce. No, you certainly can’t beat Wellington on a good day.
A slight amendment here.. As I understand it the first year of tertiary education, whether in university or other institution will be free. This is a good move because it will help so many young people who choose something other than university. My daughter is involved with industry training and their young people will also get the first year free. Enjoy your family and that breakfast. Maybe it’s the beginning of a new family favourite.
Bravo NZ government… Inexpensive… affordable or free education so students don’t need to go into debt -to the government- before they even have a job, or work to live as an underclass while they study.
Vocational/industry education should be encouraged (as it was decades ago), and ranked higher in career profiles for leaving students and career changers.
I, who have just turned 52, spent this year studying at an industry/vocational level in Australia gaining Cert 3 Horticulture plus 2 other short course complementary accreditations. I received Austudy payments while I was studying, the course fees were government subsidised, they cost me $340 total. The rest was petrol money -no public transport in my regional area- and my time.
It was a workaround. I needed to reskill, and have neither the funds nor inclination to accumulate debt to go to uni.
Yes – (I think that is what I wrote? ) it is the first year or 210 points I think – you can take as long as you like to get those points so if you study part time and it is longer than a year you are still covered. Covering polytech too. I am really happy about this move.
I like your pictures and I hope you enjoy your walk about with your family. Cheers!
We walk every day – it is wonderful
I have never known anything but an evergreen pine tree for Christmas. I would take your New Zealand version gladly. The flowers are amazing.
the flowers are beautiful – though I have to say people get Christmas trees for the house – the pohutukawa grows in your garden and streets and mostly along the seashore.
Happy you made it home and are happy. No wonder so many wish they could afford to live there. It’s stunning. My daughter also wants to move there and is looking online for work she can do there. I can see why she would love it. Happy Christmas.
It is a lovely ace to live but compared to america – very expensive –
So I’ve heard. 😦
whipped cream, castor sugar and toast is our traditional Christmas breakfast … enjoy
delightful! sounds like a great tradition.. c