Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Uniquely New Zealand - Pohutukawa

alooooo .... it is Christmas Eve today ...so feeling a bit homesick. Missing family very much coz if I am home, this time will be spent helping mom preparing for family dinner ..we usually invited my cousins for christmas eve dinner ...and the merriment will last till 2-3am ...tapi nak buat cam ne ..aku jauh di Kiwi Land ...my bro and sister dua dua balik rumah mertua masing2 ...so tinggal mom and dad keseorangan celebrate Christmas at the longhouse this year ..their first tanpa cucu and anak2 ..biasa always ada at least sorang anak menemani dorang ....sad lah ....

anyway back to posting nie ...this is the first time I am experiencing Christmas in the southern hemisphere ...kalau biasa kat kampung halaman kiter, Christmas masa winter ...potential salji turun ...weather memang sejuk sampai ke tulang ...kat sini plak, the complete opposite!!! Now is the middle of summer ...panas sampai ke tulang jugak hahahaha ...and people seems more relaxed lol but I learned that one thing that is very Kiwi during this festive season is the Pohutukawa trees ...cantik yang amat bila bunga2 dia dah keluar ..merah menyala gitu ....

a huge Pohutukawa tree on the way to my flat ...


Lately I saw banyak pokok2 nie around Wellington ..everywhere I go always terpandang this tree with attractive red blooms ...so I asked my friends, they said it is also known as Maori Christmas tree ..memang mesmerizing ...and yesterday, on the way to do my grocery shopping to Kilbirnie, there was a scetion of the road yang lined up with these tress ...OMG the view was awesome, sayang nya my camera was inside my bag and mamat tu plak memandu laju ...tak mau berhenti utk aku ambik gambar ...malas akak! but to give him credit, he started to tell me all about Pohutukawa tree and its significance to the Moari and NZ ..and even forced me to pronounced it correctly! By the time aku balik shopping tu aku dah boleh sebut nama pokok ni hahaha ...kat sini dorang punya nama tempat or nama pokok ke apa ke susah nak sebut ....like ada tempat nama Whangarei tapi pronounced as Phang-gha-tey ...berbelit lidah siot ....


see, kat town pun berlambak pokok nie ...cuma selama nie tak attractive sangat coz tak berbunga ...bila dah ada bunga baru nampak outstanding ....biasanya berbunga between nov to january ...that is why it is considered as an iconic Christmas tree for New Zealand ...plus pokok nie native to NZ ...according to a friend, if the  tree blooms in Novermber, the Maori believe that they are going to have a good harvest the next year ....



yang aku jumpa tadi nie semua tak full bloom macam yang aku nampak semalam ...yang tu memang awesome ...kalau tempat semalam tu dekat memang aku dah gi untuk selfie kat situ hahaha tapi jauh le pulak ...like 15 mins drive from my flat ....

but, kiter kan ada encik Google utk tolong kiter hehehehe:

Pohutukawa tree in bloom (from Google Image)

So, my first Christmas in NZ and I learned about this iconic NZ Christmas tree - that is uniquely NZ and not found it other parts of the world ...

so, say it with me ..it is pronounced as PO-HU-TU-KA-WA ....

4 comments:

fendifid said...

Cian parents nko terpaksa celebrate bersendirian. Tapi few days nanti anak cucu balik kampung jugak kan. Anak manja diorang je yang x dapat balik.

Cantiknya pokok tu bila berbunga lebat macam tu. Nanti nko tepek gambar yg bunga meriah penuh mcm gambar googke tu ekk.

Ejin said...

yes - anak manja nan seorang nie yang tak balik :-( semalam cakap ngan my mom kejap and she started to cry ..so we have to stop talking

kalau aku ada gi Kilbirnie area lagi I will go and snap a photo there

Liz Duan said...

i can imagine lidah si ejin tersentil sentil.. :)
Cantik sgt pokok whatever tu...

Ejin said...

Hahaha memang berbelit lidah aku weiii ...mula mula aku sebut pokok pochohontas ajer lol