Hogmanay. Last day of 2017. I know my numbers are messed up..maybe sometime in 2018 I’ll go through and work out where I went wrong! Stole a couple of hours out of preparing for holidays and this evening and headed out to Pukemokemoke. Very happy that I managed to run up, down and round twice in less than an hour! AND I saw this beautiful tui. 
Not sure yet if I am going to continue with a photoaday … I have another project which is a weekly photo challenge. I might just mix it up a bit!
Tui
Rā 271 Rāhoroi 30 o Mahuru
Last day of the month… Good day for a double Kakepuku. Only two weeks until Abel Tasman now. It was a beautiful morning to be out and no apologies for yet another dubious photo of a Tui in a tree!!
Rā 266 Rāhina 25 o Mahuru
Spring is definitely here along with changeable weather. Sunshine and showers. Tui and blossom! So many of them in this tree along the river trail. 
Rā 258 Rātapu 17 o Mahuru
Made it out for a run through the gardens and along the river between and in showers! Spring is springing!
Rā 214 Rāpare 3 o Here-Turi-Kokā
Mr Tui was here again today. Managed to get a blurry photo..
Rā 212 Rātu 1 o Here-turi-kōkā
A couple of Tui hung around in the garden today feeding off the Camellia. If they weren’t there they were high up in the tree opposite singing away. Couldn’t get a photo though!
This is a sketch I did for an activity I was preparing for workshop. 
Rā 355 Rātu 20 o Hakihea
A beautiful day in Wellington – stunning in fact! Clear blue sky and just a light breeze. Pick of the day is this Tui guzzling on harakeke nectar at the top of Mount Victoria this morning.
Lunch round the bay at Chocolate Fish cafe, then browsing in Cuba Street and a ride in the Cable Car followed by a walk through the Botanics. Loved the evening buzz along the waterfront; people eating, drinking, playing, chatting in the bars, restaurants and the walkway and some still jumping into the water!
Rā 321 Rāapa 16 o Whiringa-ā-rangi
Taupo workshops at Wairakei Primary School. A delightful welcome from a passionate and proud kapahaka group started the day. Good, robust conversations all day, the best banana cake and friendly Tui.
Rā 256, Rāhina 12 o Mahuru
I’ve decided to take a walk every lunchtime to make sure I have a break otherwise I just eat at my desk. The gardens really are beautiful now with all the trees and flowers bursting into colour. The scents are amazing and the birdsong is fantastic. I took lots of photos but I think the Kowhai is my favourite. I couldn’t get a good photo of the Tui or the Wax Eyes feeding but I watched as they flitted from flower to flower.
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It is said that the Kowhai sprung from the shreds of the cloak of tohunga Ngatoro-I-rangi of the Te Arawa waka on its arrival to Aotearoa. The legend says that a young tohunga asks a girl to marry him while they sit under the bare branches of a Kowhai tree in the month of August. She replies that she will only marry him if he can perform some brilliant act. “I will show you what I can do. I will cause this tree to spring instantly into flower before your eyes.” He uses all his powers and the tree bursts into bloom, his final touch causing a ring of yellow blossoms to appear around the dark hair of the girl. Ever since, say Te Arawa, the Kowhai has flowered on bare and leafless branches |
