Bushy Park

My blog is becoming distressingly non-chronological, but sometimes interesting things don't happen in a neat sort of pattern, so that's how it goes. 

These pictures are from a tramp Anna and I did several weeks ago in Bushy Park, which is about 25 minutes outside Whanganui. It is native, virgin bush, and it is quite beautiful, so mostly this post is just for you to enjoy the pictures. I have included some information from the signposts in the park for your enjoyment as well. Bushy Park is also a bird sanctuary, but we didn't see many different kinds of birds. They even have a Kiwi rehabilitation programme, which is awesome.

From a signpost that helpfully clarified something I have been wondering about:
"New Zealand bush can correctly be called rainforest. Its composition, structure, climate, and vegetation history meet all criteria. It show features such as buttressing, abundant lianes and ferns, and being evergreen."

This is a North Island Robin, and one of the friendliest birds I've met! I think that people must feed them sometimes, because they were very excited to make friends with Anna and I. They were the only type of bird we caught more than a fleeting glimpse of, but we saw loads of them!

Can't remember if I've posted a picture of a silver fern before, but here's one, just in case. Only the bottoms are silver (you can see the green tops in the top of the picture), so this one was noticeable because it had broken off and twisted, showing the silver undersides.

From a signpost:

"Vines which reach the top of the canopy are a distinctive feature of the New Zealand bush. Here we have Supplejack most commonly, four species of Rata Vine, Metrosideros fulgens being the most showy, three Clematis species, and Kiekie."

From a signpost:

"Ratanui [Big Rata] is the name affectionately given to this tree in Bushy Park. It is generally acknowledged as the largest living specimen of Northern Rata in NZ and is part of the "Project Crimson" programme.

In Māori mythology Tane [a Māori god] mated with female deities to produce trees, birds, and natural features. His mating with Rere-noa begat Rata and all climbing, parasitic, and epiphytic plants. The Tuhoe [a Māori iwi/tribe] call Rata flowers Kanohi-o-tawhaki, the eyes of Tawhaki, whose blood had stained them red when he fell from the first heaven, Ranginui-a-tamaku-rangi."

From me: 

The picture cannot begin to communicate how huge this tree is! Imagine it as huge as you can, and then imagine it bigger.

Also, it is between 800 and 1000 years old!

This is a "twin" fern tree. It split right at the bottom and grew evenly and quite symmetrically, both of which are quite uncommon, so it is a lovely specimen of unique beauty.

For part of our walk (possibly because we got lost, although the map was so confusing that we never did figure out if we had followed it properly or not), we had forest on one side of us, and fields of sheep on the other.

After our walk, we headed back to the Homestead, which is a big, beautiful house on a hill. I don't know why I didn't take a picture of the outside, but so be it. The Homestead is now a bed and breakfast, with beautiful rooms.

This is the stained glass in the entryway.

And this is me in the entrance, with more beautiful glass.

This is Anna's and my lovely tea and scones to replenish our strength after a couple hours of tramping. Also, I just realized that this glimpse of Anna's arm is the only bit of her in a picture. Whoops! I promise she was there - she just wasn't as interested in being in pictures.