It was raining hard this morning so they canceled the trip to the Wellington Botanic Garden. Then the weather cleared up so we all decided to walk to the Te Papa Museum since the bus was gone. We saw an exhibition about New Zealand’s part in WW1 at Gallipoli. We then got a tour around…

We visited 3 gardens today on the way to Wellington: Paloma Garden, Greenhaugh Garden and Hlomo Hlomo. Corn PALOMA GARDEN When I first arrived at this garden I thought that it was a little strange. The owner is a cowboy type guy who didn’t even know how much land he had. He said his garden…

Many gardens were open for the Taranaki Garden Festival and today we saw 3 of the best: Cairnhill Garden, Oakley Garden and the Puketarata Garden. CAIRNHILL GARDEN This garden is about 1 1/2 acres and was started from scratch over 50 years ago by the owner. This is what it looked like back then: The…

It rained a little today but that didn’t dampen our spirits in the gardens. First we Saw Saxton Sanctuary, then Pukeiti and finally the Nikau Grove Garden. Some of us walked through Pukekura Park on the way back to the hotel. SAXTON SANCTUARY This garden has an interesting story. It was built by a schoolteacher…

We spent most of the day traveling to New Plymouth in the rain with stops at Lava Glass Sculpture Garden, Huka Falls, the Waitakei Geothermal Power Station and Te Kainga Marire Garden. VIEWS ALONG THE WAY LAVA GLASS SCULPTURE GARDEN This company produces incredibly beautiful glass art at incredibly expensive prices. The garden shows off…

I had no idea that Redwood trees would grow so well in New Zealand. These were planted in 1901 and the tallest here in NZ is 246′. In comparison, the tallest California Redwood is 376′ but it probably is over 2000 years old. The NZ trees get more even moisture throughout the year and great…

We visited Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland and the Government Gardens in Rotorua today. It was raining so please excuse the raindrops on my lens. WAI-O-TAPU THERMAL WONDERLAND Not many plants here but I did find some beautiful lichens and mosses. Due to the volcanos and earthquake faults in the area, Rotorua has a lot of thermal…

Hobbiton Movie Set is located 45 minutes North of Rotorua, New Zealand. This is the place where “Lord of the Rings” was filmed. I will show you photos and videos of the beautiful scenery on our way there: This is the Green Dragon Inn where the Hobbits had their meals Before Covid they hosted over…

Today we visited Hamilton Gardens in the morning and Hobbit Film Set in the afternoon. HAMILTON GARDENS Hamilton Gardens is made up of 17 individual gardens each with its own theme. The total area of the gardens is about 100 acres with 16 full time gardeners. I wasn’t able to see everything in the 2…

We saw 2 beautiful gardens today, one a converted quarry and the other a 6 star New Zealand garden. EDEN GARDEN This garden was started in 1964 and is on 5 1/2 acres in the site of an old quarry. It is a very steep site so there are beautiful views of Auckland at the…