Pohutukawa

I have seen many trees and was impressed by quite a few of them – yet never as much as by that Kiwi tree with an allegedly typical Maori name “pohutukawa”.

The closest image doing justice to it would probably be of an upturned volcano that is erupting and frozen at the same time. That beauty can be experienced but very rarely, too, because the trees are blooming only between November and January, mid-December being the period of their peak activity. This activity results in what New Zealanders describe as “Red Christmas”. The extended Red Christmas I was so incredibly lucky to savour for almost two full weeks, has become one of my most stunning lifetime experiences.