Family Feast

 

Here's something cool I saw in Westport recently on the side of a utility box. Painted by artist Maureen Mayo it depicts Tui family feasting on flowers from the Harakeke (flax) plant. I'm loving the colours.

Linking up with Monday Murals.

Kōkō

 

I'm very fortunate to have a Kōwhai tree in my front garden. Kōwhai is the Maori word for yellow and as you can see from the colour of the flowers they are very vibrant. Every Spring they attract these birds known as the Tui or the Kōkō in Maori language.

In Te Ao Maori this bird has a huge significance. They are thought of as messengers of Atua (God's) in heaven. They are associated with life fulfillment, confidence and spiritual harmony.

Native birds including the Tui but also the Kereru (wood pigeon) and Bellbird all love to feast on the flowers which are an important source of nectar food for them.

Linking up with Mosaic Monday and Blue Monday.

The Ocean Mind Project

Remember this mural I posted in 2020 of  "A school of fish in Okaihau?". Well it seems that the building has had a bit of an upgrade since then.  I was in the town last week and saw that there is now a mural of a native Tui aka Bellbird painted by Kayla Oceana and Brooke W who are part of The Ocean Mind Project . 

Their goal is to empower the Bay of Islands community with knowledge and choice, to protect our environment and to begin with think consciously about usage and waste in regards to people recycling instead of using plastic.

Linking up with Mural Monday.

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.

Just for the Tuis

On each of my morning walks around town this week I've seen something interesting. This particular day I was walking past one of the many tiny holiday homes down one of the side streets and spotted this water tank cheerfully decorated in shades of blue. This one has been painted with illustrations of a Tui sitting on what looks to be the flowers of a native flax bush.

Here in Mangawhai and in other small towns sometimes the houses can either be connected to town supply water or they will have 10,000 ltr water tanks so when it rains the water goes directly inside off the roof - usually there is a filter between the tank and the house so that it's safe to drink.

Linking up with Mural Monday and Our World Tuesday.

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 :-)