The Bank

This will not be a treatise on financial matters – Jenny has asked for pictures of the bank at the back of the house. Things are growing up all the time but it is difficult to gauge the difference when you see it every day. For comparison here is what it looked like in March 2011. I’ve got some spreading rosemary which is intended to take over the trellis by the wall.

The path up from the garden has grown up a lot.

It’s quite difficult to get meaningful shots of the vegetation – a case of not being able to see the trees for the wood. The flaxes are getting very big 

and the tree ferns as well.

This is a general view looking down the bank.

Here are some healthy looking karaka.

I’ve been trying lobelia angulata (panakenake) as a ground cover. Early results are encouraging – the hope is it will strangle out the tradescantia and other invasive nasties.

Finally, here is the ake ake that Sam gave me for Christmas 2010 (see about half way down for a photo of how it was). It has shot up and is now taller than I am.

Weekend Walks

It has been a long weekend, today being Queen’s Birthday. Yesterday we met up our friends Ali and Alan (and Ali’s daughter Sophie) in Levin. It’s a place we normally rush through on State Highway 1 en route north or south to more exotic locations. However just south of the town is a lovely reserve around Lake Papaitonga. 

We had a picnic lunch there and explored the tracks through some quite well-preserved bush.

 

 

 

Today the normal group went into the Rimutaka Forest Park on the Orongorongo track. My camera batteries have been playing up again so I only managed a couple of photos on the phone. The track hasn’t changed much since these previous visits in January 2008 and October 2009.

But just to prove we were there here we are having lunch. 

The weather wasn’t as bad as it might appear – just a bit of misty drizzle in the valley.