Wintergardens, Auckland Domain

After lunch in Parnell, next stop was the Auckland Domain and a visit to the Wintergardens. We had been here last month with Joan and Steve, but the majority of plants have changed since then. Although I am a big fan of sunflowers I had never seen one this colour.




In the tropical house, several of the lily pads were starting to unfurl.





And then we had a wander around the fernery with a wide variety of ferns not just the popular ponga or silver fern for which NZ is most famous.

Parnell Rose Gardens

Not so far afield today, just a short trip over the bridge to the suburb of Parnell and a visit to the rose garden set in the Dove Myer Robinson park.





The park also gives good views over to the city and down to the port with Devonport in the distance.






We also came across this huge pohutukawa tree, quite tempting to climb it...

Omana Regional Park

For lunch we headed to Omana Regional Park, just around the coast in Maraetai.






Despite being a lovely sunny day, the beach was pretty deserted.







The area is called the Pohutukawa Coast and there were many trees out in flower ready for Christmas.

Ayrlies Garden, Whitford

Today we headed south to Whitford to visit Ayrlies Garden, the only garden in New Zealand considered to be of international significance.






The private garden is the work of a small team of gardeners and has been developed over the past 30 odd years. There are many pools and small waterfalls throughout the garden.







The views from the garden over the Hauraki Gulf and Rangitoto are stunning and there are many seating areas taking advantage of the views.

Auckland Zoo

Girls only day today as Mum and I headed to Auckland Zoo. The heat of the day meant most of the animals looked pretty warm. The red panda was quite happy in his home and not willing to come out to play.




The tiger "cubs" are now about eighteen months old and are as big as their mum! They were quite happy resting in the shade, but a little sleepy!





You would think the animals in the Australian enclosure would be used to the heat, but even the kangeroos just couldn't be bothered...





I'm not quite sure what these spider monkeys are doing, but as they are scared of water, their pen has a moat around it so they are not caged in.





For some reason the lemurs had big stripey socks on their tails...






The meercat was probably the only animal showing any interest.






Burma the elephant looked very lonely following the recent death of Kashin the other elephant. As elephants need company, the zoo will either have to get a new elephant for the enclosure or move Burma to another zoo.




The lions were majestic, but again mainly in the shade.

Karangahake Gorge

The journey back home to Auckland took us through the Karangahake Gorge where we stopped for a walk and lunch.






The gorge was once a huge gold mining area and the remains of the works can still be seen. The Windows Walk takes you through the old railway tunnels with the "windows" being gaps in the tunnel giving views down the gorge.

Ohope Beach

Ohope is fast becoming our favourite place to stay, and a recent return following our holiday here back in March. Once again, we stayed at the Top 10 Campsite, but in a quite stunning 2 bed apartment, with a reasonable view from the deck...




We had a quick journey down to the end of the spit to see the estuary.





The rest of the afternoon was spent fishing, with Royston catching his biggest kawahi off the beach yet, and then watching the sun set in the evening.