discovering wild

Rediscovering WILD in the botanical gardens

 

To grab a good dose of fresh air and catch up with my friend Emily, we go for a walk every lunchtime in and around the Botanic gardens.   Even after one month of walking in these gardens we are continuing to see new things, discover new paths and also get momentarily lost.  Every footpath leads to an unknown, a different place, a different experience. As I have grown familiar with some of the paths, I’m begining to notice the smaller details.  The change in the shine or gloss of the leaves after fresh rain, the smell of the native bush, people lying in the long grass chewing grass stalks, a bell bird chattering. It lifts ones spirits.

The botanical gardens are a plethora of pathways situated near the University of Otago in Dunedin.  Here, paths merge, weave and suddenly appear.  On map, it shows of NZ native bush, South Africa garden, a small wetland, a extensive cemetery, lake with pergolas. We have decided to explore without a map, making an adventure, testing our memory of pathways and where they lead.

The cemetery

We had been told by friends to look out for Larnachs grave. We walk through the cemetery, looking. We had been told it was so big “you cant miss it’. So we were looking for a prominent and grandious grave.

We found a small obscure grave, hidden away under name Larnach, but it wasnt the William Larnach who built New Zealands only castle in 1871.  We looked around the cemetery, suddenly we noticed there was a fence around a temple.  This ‘temple’ was in fact Larnach’s grave proudly standing over  the botanical gardens. Ornate, fine in detail and graceful. Sadly there has been some graffiti.

 

Larnachs Grave

 

walk on...Some leaves are already turning colour.  We hear piwakawka and bellbirds. We sat and ate our sandwiches in the pavilion looking through kowhai over the picturesque lake. Emily feed the ducks her sandwich crusts. I noticed the ducks feathers change colour from bright teal to bright purple colour in different lights.

a discovery…a path we had never seen before.  It had a stone finish, insinuating an older presence in the garden.  Trees with twisted branches were sculptures, with their foliage forming an arch.

The bush

Walking through the bush we normally focus on the track and which track we are going to take.  Being more familiar we look up and around, taking in the surroundings, becoming aware of the stories about us. The bush, we realized is dominated by large manuka, with smaller pittosporums, all secondary successional plants indicating the original bush was burnt or cut down around 100 years ago. Why was it burnt? What for?

Purple.

Today we decided to walk through Otago Polytech campus in search for the edible and medicinal garden we had heard about.  We found brilliant purple artichokes and after having a good scout around we stumbled upon the edible garden, with lush beans and potatoes.

Food foraging- Eating in the botanical gardens

Blackberries are in season, and ready to gather. These were timely spotted before we started climbing a long series of steps.  We have also noticed feijoa trees in flower and possibly an apple tree. I’m not going to tell you where they are, go and forage.
 

Lost in thought. Today we walked through the cemetery lost in thoughts, in discussion. Wilfred and Ethel Maude, ingrained on headstones caught our eye.  There are many Isabellas and James, names that are once again becoming vogue. Some graves have an eerie  feel about them, sunken with cracked earth and some appear to be happy planted in flowers.

Speights Grave

The mark of time

 

The Witches Walk

This haunted avenue of twisted trees is home to the lurking spindly witches.  If you look close enough, you might catch a glimpse of these witches gathering to collect spiders and slugs for their magic potions or tettering through the trees finding a perfect broomstick.

Lessons from the Dead

They say you can learn something from the most ignorant of people, alas don’t stop there. People from their graves, the dead are willing to share some wise words

 

Colour

 

 

Autumn is here

Time to jump amongst the leaves, throw them up in the air and celebrate autumn. Take a walk around and enjoy the luminous reds and shades of golden ochre. 

 

 

 

Peter Pan in the botanical gardens

Up close- getting down with nature

Little mushrooms have suddenly popped up. 

 

Our Harakeke

Harakeke, is one of New Zealands oldest plant species.  There are many different harakeke species.  Traditionally harakeke was used to make ropes, clothes, mats and fishing lines. Today beautiful kete (bags) are weaved from this strong fibre of harekeke.  It is also valued as a great food source for our bell birds and tuis.

Our Kereru-our taonga

Today we noticed 3 kereru, native New Zealand Wood pigeons, sitting quietly, overlooking the cemetery.  If you are lucky you may hear and see kereru WHOOP WHOOP from tree to tree.

 

 New Life

A movement caught my eye.  Tadpoles nonchalantly swimming from the shadows of the reeds into the sun.

 

Trees

Cherishing our trees.

 In some cities it is hard to find a large tree. Although this tree is not native, it has lived through many eras and seen so much.  It would have been a small sapling starting to grow, surrounded by vast areas of harakeke (flax) and manuka which once covered Dunedin.  This original  vegetation has not survived colonisation and was removed to build houses and roads and the cemetery, in which it stands.  It has seen the days when horses and wagons drove through the octagon on dirt roads, when smells of horse poo, sweat and leather dominated the small town. This tree has seen the tram, both steam and electric and finally the advent of the car. This tree has seen the coming and going of many people and watch Dunedin grow from a small settlement into a city.

 

Looking UP