KING WHEEL COTTAGE !

We drove by this cottage in Otago and had to stop to take a picture!
It's called 'King Wheel Cottage' in Kingston - the only other claim to fame this place has is the Kingston Flyer, the old steam train that still runs and toots along the track.
The fence for the house is built from old train wheels & carriage wheels - I've never seen anything quite like it.
The person living here clearly has an obsession and quite a collection!



The original Kingston Flyer was a passenger service that operated between Kingston and the Main South Line at Gore from 1878 through to the mid 1950s.
It provided a passageway to Queenstown and the surrounding stations, by meeting up with the lake steamers at Kingston Wharf.
It still makes a lot of noise and steam and the driver still wears his peaked cap. Coffee in the Station cafe is hot and strong and the view over the lake as you sip it, is fabulous.

ONE TREE HILL !

Well, One Tree Hill is very famous here in Auckland and you'll see it on postcards all over..
It's called Maungakiekie in Māori, meaning 'mountain of the kiekie vine' and it is the largest volcanic peak in Auckland, about 30,000 years old!
It is an important memorial place for both Māori and other New Zealanders.
The summit provides panoramic views, you can see both harbours and if you time it right, you can watch both a rising and a falling tide at the same time.



In pre-colonial times, One Tree Hill was occupied by Maori tribes, who settled the area. One Tree Hill is one of the largest suriviving pa (fortified stronghold) sites in New Zealand, capable of housing 4000 defenders.
When Auckland was founded, as a colonial town, a tree stood near the summit which gave the hill its English name.
This was cut down by a white settler in 1852, for firewood.



John Logan Campbell, was one of the founding fathers of Auckland and when he died, his remains were buried at the summit of One Tree Hill.
In his will, Campbell left provision for the construction of an obelisk at the summit, to honour his admiration for the Maori people. This was unveiled in 1948.
In the meantime, two pine trees had been planted in the 1870s to replace the 'one tree' and until 2000, they stood next to the obelisk on the top.
However, in the early 1960s a group of overseas Boy Scouts cut down one of the two trees!




The remaining tree was later attacked twice with chainsaws by Māori protesters.
In 1994, Maori activist Mike Smith attacked the One Tree Hill pine, with a chainsaw, in an attempt to draw attention to Maori grievances. To Smith, the tree was a symbol of colonial oppression.
The ailing pine was again attacked with a chainsaw by a group of Maori protesters in 1999.
The tree was unable to recover from the attack and later had to be removed.
It had been part of Auckland's skyline for more than 120 years.
The summit stands empty at the moment, except for the obelisk.



A new nickname, "No(ne) Tree Hill", has become popular and locals have provisionally renamed the landmark Gone Tree Hill, None Tree Hill, One Treestump Hill, Once Was Tree Hill, etc.

ORCHID SHOW !

At the weekend the girls and I went to Orewa, to see the orchid show.
When we walked in the air smelled of honey and the colours and scents were overwhelming!
Of course Kew Gardens has nearly 22,000 species, but then you can't buy an enormous bunch for $10 and take them home.



Did you know that the number of orchids is four times the number of mammal species, and more than twice the number of bird species!



Orchids have zygomorphic flowers, ones which can can be divided into two mirror-image halves, like a person's face. They have petals of two more different shapes, sizes, and colors.



New Zealand has over 120 native orchids, over half of these are found nowhere else.
Traditionally, Māori people ate the tubers of orchids as snacks.
The tubers of the potato orchid (Gastrodia cunninghamii) were dug in winter and dried by exposure. Known as perei, they were roasted over a fire, or cooked in a steam oven.




A significant number of New Zealand orchids are rare, and some are endangered.
The rarest is the almost-black helmet orchid, which can only be found in a single Waikato swamp.



As recently as 2004, two Czech orchid growers were prosecuted for trying to smuggle native orchids out of New Zealand.
They were filmed taking orchids from a national park, and had over 100 plants when they were arrested. Boy, were they in trouble!

KEA !

One of the things I wanted to see when we went to South Island was a kea!
In North island it was a takahe (and I've already blogged that moment!)
What is a kea?
It's a kind of parrot, an alpine parrot that lives only in the snowy mountains of New Zealand.
It only became protected in 1986, before that they were killed for bounty because it was thought that they preyed on sheep. Not true! Now there are believed to be only 1000 left.



Kea are legendary for their intelligence and curiosity,and studies have shown Kea to be able to solve logical puzzles, such as pushing and pulling things in a certain order to get to food, as well as working in teams to achieve a certain objective. Who's a clever bird then!



We stopped at the side of the road before entering the tunnel and encountered this one. Apparently kea are attracted by the prospect of food scraps from us humans. He seemed quite at home right next to us!



Their curiosity leads them to peck and carry away unguarded items of clothing, or to pry apart rubber parts of cars - to most people's entertainment and some people's annoyance. We saw them unpacking someone's rucksack!



They are often described as "cheeky" and are now fully protected. They even have their own road sign!

REFLECTION !

KORU !

Yesterday, I mentioned that the uncurling frond of the ferns outside our window are called koru.. a really important symbol here.
In Maori art, glassware, jewellery and paintings, this iconic symbol is used everywhere; even Air New Zealand use it on their plane tails!



It is used as a symbol of creation, its circular shape representing the idea of perpetual movement, its inward coil suggesting a return to the point of origin.
Robbie Williams has one tattooed on his arm and Beckham is coming to visit New Zealand soon and will no doubt add one to his collection!



The Maori people use the unfolding fern as inspiration for the spiral form, which in all Polynesia is unique to New Zealand,(as are so many things!)
The Maori people take the carving of this spiral form & use it in on many different surfaces, from tattoos to carvings on meeting houses, waka (canoes) and every day objects.



Often the koru pattern is combined in such a way as to make a very complex pattern, such as this tattoo on a Maori warrior. This style of facial tattooing is becoming more popular among the Maori and we have seen several men with these and some women with a moko.



In fact a Maori tattoo can be quite frightening; imagine a rugby squad with faces and expressions like this, doing the haka - you can see why they are so intimidating and why we lost! You can also see the koru in use in the design! At the moment Maori make up only 14% of the population here.

WHEKI !

The New Zealand Tree Fern, or Wheki in Maori,is a medium-sized tree fern with a tall, slender brown trunk. And the valley behind our house is filled with them.
It produces few fronds, all of which sprout in a horizontal fashion. The fronds form a small "umbrella" on top of the trunk. It has a fast growth rate and they just seem to shoot up in the Spring
Of course, they are endemic to New Zealand.



The koru is the Māori name given to the new unfurling fern frond (above).
They symbolize new life, growth, strength and peace.
It is an integral symbol here in Māori carving and tattoos.