Flower Power.

Nature in New-Zealand is dressing up for Christmas. Let me introduce to you the spectacular Pōhutukawa tree. Māori admire its resilience – with its roots that stretch out and cling to coastal cliffs and even split the rocks in defiance of the elements. Also the branches themselves can root as they bend down in search for rock or soil. Older trees develop aerial roots which hang from the branches like massive reddish-grey beards, (or like decorative Xmas garlands). It’s the tree of death and afterlife, of transition, of ancestral connection. Kiwis in general call it the Christmas tree, because by the end of December it is in full bloom , adding pizazz to Xmas with an explosion of vibrant red flowers. True to our tree-hugging spirit, we stand in complete awe as we watch the spectacle unfold before our very eyes. Popular lore has it that we will be in for a long , hot summer if the first Pōhutukawa bloom has been spotted before November 1st. Which was the case. Late spring still feels chilly to us, but now the temperature is rising. A serious high of 1030 hectoPascals has settled in the area bringing big blue skies, and Pōhutukawa’s that are shifting into higher gear. We do believe a long, hot Kiwi summer is in the cards.

On our way to the Man O’ War Vineyard, we stopped at Rotoroa Island – not just to shelter from an unfavourable wind, but also to remind ourselves not to overdo it with the Syrah, later on.
In 1911, the Salvation Army opened Rotoroa as a rehab centre for alcoholics. Today, it is a bird sanctuary where the once presumed extinct takahē – a sturdy bright blue-green coloured swamphen that can’t fly- has been reintroduced into the wild. We spotted a couple of those swamphens with their chick, pecking at the grass in total oblivion. It wasn’t hard to see why they nearly went extinct, to be honest.

The next anchorage in Waiti Bay, on Waiheke Island, led us up the hill through wild bush and a volcanic boulder field to contemplate WWII relics in a peaceful setting of greenery before we reached our destination: the vineyards in the Bay of Man O’ War. Weird and a bit sinister how “war”—be it on drugs or on each other—all of a sudden keeps popping up in our travels in these worrisome times. We’ve actually just witnessed three C-130H Hercules military plains fly over in formation on their way to the base in Auckland. We kid you not.

The name “Man O’ War” has many meanings: it refers to a soldier, to a type of armed sailing ship – frigate ships – used by navies from the 16th to the 19th centuries, an extremely venomous jellyfish-like ocean creature with long tentacles, various locations around the world, a once-famous racehorse, a song by Radiohead (with the oddly appropriate opening lyrics “Drift all you like, From ocean to ocean”) , and, finally, a vineyard in the Bay of Man O’ War. The bay was named by navigators in the late 1700s because of the magnificent Kauri trees that covered its slopes. However, they were another kind of tree-huggers. To them, the trees were nothing more than perfect masts for their Man O’ War ships, which the ancient trees provided in abundance. Needless to say, those Kauri trees are long gone. But the vineyards are flourishing and young Kauri’s are being planted for generations to come. To protect them against the Kauri disease that lurks in the soil and spreads through the soles of shoes, you can now zip through their crowns instead. Rather than being strapped in for “a flight through the forest” we went for a “flight” of choice wines to taste in all comfort. Afterwards, My Captain brought “the spoils of war” back home to O2 in the dinghy. Methinks there’s no better way to celebrate his birthday than this.