At the Botanic Gardens While the Earth Moves In Wellington

A lone flowering Tulip

On Friday we had decided it was about time that we went into Wellington again.
We needed a fix of city hustle and bustle and then our usual wander through the Wellington Botanic Gardens.
Little did we know it would turn out to be a bit of an adventure.

One of the tulip beds

The tulip beds were devoid of flowers, all except one lone tulip, but growing well in preparation for the Spring Tulip Festival later on.  But there was plenty of magnolias in bloom along with other pretty little flowers and the spring bulbs doing their thing rather early, it is still winter.

Relaxing on the grass while Wellington shakes

I found myself a nice possie next to the Joy Fountain on the grass and sat down while Salem went running about.  I felt the ground move under me and thought that it was either a small earthquake or a truck or bus going by. I didn't see either.  I mentioned it to Salem but he didn't feel anything.  He was too busy running around and exploring in the trees.

This was taken just after a large earthquake

Soon after heaps of people started walking through the gardens and I thought it must have been the usual after work crowd of people walking home........Little did we know!!!!!
Wellington had been rattled by some rather large earthquakes.
I have written about our adventure on our Ballet Boy NZ blog so check out our story at http://balletboynz.blogspot.co.nz/2013/08/dancing-on-shaky-ground-and-costume.html.
We were totally oblivious to the earthquakes and had a really nice afternoon at the gardens.

Getting Ready For Easter At Kirks

Clucky, the Easter egg laying chicken

It was off to Kirkcaldie & Stains for our traditional visit to see Clucky the Hen who lays chocolate covered marshmallow Easter eggs.
We visit Clucky every year, the build up to Easter would just not be the same without her.

Clucky has just laid an egg

Kircaldie and Stains department store has been around since 1863 but of course Clucky hasn't been around that long.  My Nana and Grandad used to take me to visit Clucky and that was many, many moons ago.

As you can see from the video above, Clucky really put's a smile on your face and it's amazing how many adults still come to see Clucky and put in their 50 cent piece to have an egg laid for them.
I still do..!!!!!

After our visit to Kirk's (Kirkcaldie & Stains) we had a quick visit to the botanic gardens to see what was in flower now.  It's been a little while since we were last there.

There were some lovely vibrant colours so I had a bit of a sit down and just enjoyed the sights while Salem went and did some fort building.  It keeps him busy for ages.
I had to call out for him when it was time to leave.
We ended up missing our bus anyway so had to wait for the next one.

It's going to be interesting to see what the gardeners are going to plant for the autumn displays.

Giant Bugs at The Botanic Gardens

On our way through the Wellington Botanic Gardens, we encountered some magical beasties.

It was a very nice surprise.  The Botanic Gardens have some amazing lighting displays and there was lighting rigged up around the giant bugs.

They must look amazing all lit up at night.  It's a pity we can't get to see them at night.

But they look amazing in the sunlight.  This is all part of the displays that are put on every summer.

I wonder what our next summer treat will be??????

Hanging Out with the Birds

After we had done our dash with taking photos of the roses, we found ourselves a nice spot to sit down and we had a great time sitting and chatting to all the ducks, pigeons and sparrows that decided to hang out with us.

They were such a laugh, having their little squabbles and there was the occasional amorous male pigeon who didn't have any luck.  There were no females that were having a bar of it!!!

This little one came over to check me out and was quite happy to hang around with me for a while.
A little sweetie.

Salem was a little tired so had a bit of a lie-down and chatted to the ducks that were having a laze under the rose bushes.

I am sure that all the friendly in the gardens were the little ducklings that we saw causing mischief for their parents the last time we were here.
They have all grown up now.

This little duck is being a bit bashful at first.

Then it was time for a big stretch.
They can make themselves quite long too.

She's all relaxed now after that.
She stayed with us the whole time until we left.

This is another of our little friends.
This gorgeous fat pigeon also stayed with us even though there were whole flocks of pigeons that flew en mass barely missing us as we were on their flight path.
It was all very exciting and we really had to duck down so that we weren't hit by a feathered missile.

Only a few of the ducks had had enough of lazing in the sun and took to the pond in the middle of the rose gardens and had a leisurely paddle in the water.

It was a bit of a low tide in the fountain so they really needed to top up the water.
Luckily the ramp was still there for the ducks to wander out of the water.
They didn't have to strain themselves by flying out, it really was a lazy sunny day.

I think that the pigeons were a bit more energetic than the ducks today.
The pigeons were checking out the rose beds for insects to eat.
The ducks just stayed in one place, all comfortable in the rose beds and just ate the leaves of the rose bushes that were in reach.

These pigeons are definitely healthier looking than the ones in the inner city.
Lots of fresh plants and insects.
Not scraps and junk food like their inner city cousins.

I would definitely prefer to live here than at the railway station or on the sides of buildings etc.
And people are always bring bread to feed the duck down at the duck pond.
The ducks are so over fed that there is always more than enough food spare for the pigeons and sparrows.

You must excuse my rattling on......
It was so lovely sitting in the sun with such friendly company, the best way to spend a sunny spring day.
It really makes you relax and lets your mind wander..........

A Symphony of Colour at the Lady Norwood Rose Gardens

As promised, here are some pics of the most gorgeous display of roses I have ever seen.
The sheer amount of blooms was amazing.
I only managed to photograph a small amount, not even near a quarter of the roses that were there.

When approaching the gardens, we got hit with the most delicious and heady perfume.
We knew we were in for a treat.

It was such a contrast to when we were last here a few weeks before.
It really was a magnificent display.

There were bus loads of tourists arriving all the time, all with their cameras clicking away.
I tried to get as many photos of the roses as possible but I am afraid I got all "rosed out"!!!
I think I managed to actually look at nearly half the roses on display, it was really a lot to take in.

Salem was taking photos today with his vintage film camera but only managed to get three or four photos of the roses as he ran out of film.
We should have bought more with us.
He used two films that day as it was, but we now now to bring many more.

So after we had "Rose Overload" we found a nice place to sit down with the ducks, pigeons and sparrows.
They were all lazing in the sun in the rose beds.
They didn't mind us hanging out with them.

I took lots of photos of the birds and will share them with you tomorrow.
Enjoy the rest of the photos of these beautiful roses, you will just have to imagine the glorious perfume that we were lucky to be enveloped in........

......Bliss....