I took these photos from the car as we travelled home
from our trip to Port Charles.

The morning sun was far too bright to photograph the
deep crimson of the pohutukawa flowers. The light is very bright in NZ.

It's a wonderful drive along the coast, on sealed roads,
from the old gold mining town of Thames to the quaint little town of Coromandel. 

 Christmas is a summer festival in New Zealand because we adhere to the
northern hemisphere calendar, and to kiwis it has come to mean summer holidays,
 hot sun and beaches, cold cuts and salads and barbecues...

and the pohutukawa is our Christmas tree.

When I think of my early childhood of endless summers,  I am playing in the sand, building
 sand castles, or gathering shells, on a beach carpeted in red cotton thread petals beneath gnarly puhutukawa trees.
The branches often lean over and lie on the sand;
perfect for clambering on except for the rough bark that is very uncomfortable!