Pohutakawa in Bloom

The New Zealand Christmas Tree - January 1999. It was also good to see that we were in time to see the Pohutakawa - often called the New Zealand Christmas tree were still in bloom on parts of the coast. We stopped to take some pictures of one which was an even more spectacular colour than most - it must be a different sport as it was only just coming into bloom.

Pohutakawa used to line the entire coast but many of them have been lost but there is a scheme called "Project Crimson" to gradually replace them - this must have been one of the new ones. The Coromandel coastline where we have sailed and camped is still lined with the gnarled old trees almost touching the water, unfortunately we are usually too late to see them in their full glory.