Pohutukawa stand - Auckland Domain
A school holiday in commemoration of New Zealand’s Labour Day meant that my wife and I had an opportunity to invite our grandson for a sleep-over last Sunday followed the next day — the public holiday — with a train ride to Parnell, Auckland’s oldest suburb, for a tramp across the Auckland Domain, the city’s oldest public park.
The walk from the Parnell train station to the Domain’s Wintergardens is a proper hike uphill through the woods at one edge of the Domain. Still on the mend after some medical woes, I was delighted to find that my grandson was eager to hold my hand as we made our way from the train station. He is such a thoughtful lad.
It was a grand afternoon, both in the two glass houses of the Wintergardens and across the grounds of the park.
A stand of Pohutukawa trees sparkled in the mid-afternoon light. They obliged me a photograph.