Yellow

 

I can hear the Coldplay song "Yellow" playing in my head. The daffodils are now flowering in my garden and in plant pots on the deck outside.

And the Kowhai tree in the front garden outside our bedroom is now starting to flower - we should start seeing Tui in it any day now.

Linking up with Through my lens, Tuesday Treasures, My corner of the world and Wordless Wednesday.

Daffodils

 

I just noticed the first Daffodil popping up in my front garden. I had bought some earlier this year from my work so it's good to see this, it means Spring is on the way.

And this Kereru aka Pigeon along with his partner has been sitting in the Kowhai tree outside our bedroom. I had thought originally that they were waiting for the flowers to come out but someone updated me yesterday that apparently they like to nibble on the new leaves. 

Linking up with Through my lens, Tuesday Treasures, My corner of the world and Wordless Wednesday.

Liquorland

 

I couldn't help but notice this yellow Kowhai tree flowering next to my work outside the liquor shop. The yellow really stands out doesn't it?

Linking up with Weekend Reflections and the Weekend Roundup.

Napier's Kowhai Sculpture

This sculpture in Napier that we saw caught my eye. In case you didn't know the Kowhai flower is well known here for attracting Tui, Bellbirds and Wood Pigeons. Kowhai is the Maori word for yellow and in 2014 this "Gold of the Kowhai" sculpture by Paul Dibble was unveiled. The 13 foot artwork is bronze and gilded with 24 carat gold.

Linking up with Our World Tuesday, Through my lens, Tuesday Treasures, Tuesday Travel, My corner of the world, Wordless Wednesday.

Lots of people - no thanks!

A couple of weeks ago we stopped in Warkworth, a town about 45 minutes away. We really didn't want to go there as they had an annual event going called the "Kowhai Festival". Kowhai is one of our country's trees. It flowers in Spring and has lovely yellow blooms that attract the Tui.

I don't do large groups of people, I just don't - I 'd rather be with maybe 2 or 3 people at the most, I just find it too crowded in these sorts of situations. The main streets were closed off and it was hard to find parking.

The roads are full of different stalls - anything like real estate, political parties, crafts, foods, charities, clothing etc.  Apparently it's been running every year in October since 1970 and has been extremely popular even since.

Warkworth is one of those places that has grown immensely, 20-30 years ago it was a small country town - now it has branched out with those moving out of Auckland.

Anyway, after doing what we had to do we were glad to get out of there and head home.

Lake Karapiro Kowhai and Carvings

When you're on a road trip it's nice to pull off the main highway and explore some unfamiliar surroundings. Normally people go camping from Summer through to Autumn, however we spotted these campers who set up their tent and caravan on Lake Karapiro in early September (Spring in NZ).

Although it was a dismal overcast rain on/off again day it was nice to see some colour such as these Maori carvings and a Kowhai tree behind it flowering.

These trees that bloom in bright yellow flowers are native to New Zealand and feed native birds such as Tui, Kaka and Pigeon and Bellbird.

Linking up with Our World Tuesday :-)