Memory of Old Roses

We visited the botanical gardens in Wellington not long after we had arrived in New Zealand and came upon a book called Memory of Old Roses by Trevor Griffiths. We bought the book for my parents as they are keen gardeners and it came highly recommended from the bookshop. The layout was superbly designed and we thought it would be worthy of any gardener's book collection.
Now that we are home I decided to actually read the book and was so moved by it I felt it warranted a post. It's the sort of book you could read in a day and although I am not particularly interested in roses found the book hugely pleasurable. It is an autobiography of Trevor Griffith's life and "evokes innocent times when people worked long and hard to reach their goals." It is a gem of a book in my opinion and my only regret is that I didn't read it before posting it home.

Trevor Griffiths nursery was based in Timaru in the south island and although he is retired there is a public rose garden in the town that might be worthy of a visit provided that the old roses, that bloom only once a year, are in full flower.

For me this book is not so much about roses but a different way of life. The humility, matter-of-factness and simplicity of the writing echoing the times it describes.

Just in case you are wondering, my parents liked it too.

Cathal

Fraser Island to Sydney (Day 12)

Day 12 was departure day from Fraser island and involved a catamaran, a four hour drive, a two hour flight from Brisbane Airport and a taxi to arrive at our next abode, the Pensione Hotel on George's St., in Sydney. (I'm getting tired just thinking about how tiring and long a day it was!).

But before we left, we left at 10.00 am which was the afternoon relative to our other departure times on the trip to date, we took some close up pics of the local flora. The fern might be the symbol of NZ but Australia has its fair share too, as the next photo's show.

OK the last pic above is of a palm tree and the next two pics are extreme close ups of the same tree. (I can't remember whether the pic above and below are of a fern or a type of palm tree, I think it's a type of palm tree?). The second one is a close up of its flower. If you look closely towards the centre of the pic you will spot two ants.

The other common flower you see all over the place is the Banksia Flower which has these amazing flowers which change colour and texture as they go to seed.

We really enjoyed our time on Fraser although admittedly I think I enjoyed it more than Sharon. (Then again there were no yarn shops so that might explain a thing or two!) We are home a few weeks now and I think about that part of the trip, and in particular Lake McKenzie, more than all our other destinations.

The Pensione Hotel in Sydney proved to be a real find and a great base to explore the city. It was definitely the best value for money accommodation of the trip. It's situated in a refurbished building and although the rooms are small, and the en-suite only has a shower, the character of the place and the fact that it's pretty new more than makes up for the lack of space. I guess you could call it a boutique hotel with all the feel of the best of its Italian counterparts.

If you click here you'll see that even the web site is tastefully done.

Cathal

Congrats to........

Well it's congrats to Isobel for correctly identifying the tree in the previous post about the Botanic Gardens as being a Pohutekawa tree. Or more commonly known as the New Zealand Christmas Tree. Here is a close up of the flowers as requested by my sister.


Unfortunately I thought it was a Feijoa tree so it actually doesn't fruit as I suggested previously. Considering my mother is a Horticulturist, my sister is a Horticulturist, my brother is a Landscape Architect completing a Doctorate in Forestry and the fact that I was brought up on a Nursery I think I have no real excuse for this oversight bar an extreme casualness when it comes to this blogging thing.

Anyway for the record here is a picture of a Feijoa flower, and I beleive this fruits in the Autumn. Its a pity the New Zealand Tree doesn't grow Feijoas as apparently they are very tasty.

Given my background perhaps I could create a new hybrid.

Cathal

Wellington Botanic Gardens

So continuing on from the last post, after we arrived at the top of the Cable Car ride we arrived at the Botanical Gardens. The gardens are quite large and we only saw some of it the afternoon we were there. In particular we sought out the Lady Norwood Rose Garden which was adjacent to the Begonia House and Teahouse. The map below shows the extent of the gardens. The gardens are free to visit. I also do not think they can be closed off at night which would be unusual.

On our journey through the gardens we found the tree below. It is everywhere in Wellington and I think it is its emblem. The tree fruits in the Autumn and it is edible and apparently quite tasty. So answers on a post card please as we play guess the name of the tree.....the top prize is a "well done" comment on blogger....there is no second prize.

In our excitement we forgot to take a panaroma of the overall rose garden but here are a few pictures of some of the roses. We did find a rose called "Dublin Bay" but it wasn't in flower.

After the rose garden, a cup of tea and a mince pie we headed into the Begonia House. The name is a bit of a misnoma in that there are not that many Begonias but they are big. We took the photo below with a NZ one dollar coin in the top corner. This would have been very clever if ye knew what size the coin was, lets just say its about the same size as a one euro coin . Also in the "Begonia House" were orchids and water lilies.

We are limited in the number of photos we can use for each post. So we will have to leave it there until we return another day. It is unfortunate that photo's don't smell as the scents walking through the rose garden were fabulous.

Cathal

Oasis of Calm

If you are looking for a convenient respite from the maddness of the city centre I suggest you look no further that the IFC Shopping Centre roof top garden. Where else in Hong Kong can you have a fantastic meal in a great setting for less that €5!

Located four floors up on the roof of the IFC, the garden is an unexpected treat and a fantastic place to grab a bite to eat. The first thing that strikes you about the space is the quietness and the unexpected sound of birds singing.

Hong Kong has a small chain of gourmet supermarkets called City'super which can be found in most shopping malls. The one in the IFC offers hot take out meals like Thai Green Chicken Curry for about €5. We made our purchases and made our way to the rooftop to enjoy some really good food with beautiful scenery and views over the harbour. There are restaurants proper on the rooftop but they are a bit pricey for a bit of lunch.

Hope the following photos give you a good idea of what was an oasis of calm in a very hectic city.

Cathal