new zealand christmas trees

The Pohutakawas are in full bloom here. They are called the "new zealand christmas tree" because their red flowers come out in december all along the coasts.

We enjoyed them at the beach a few days ago....

And we have a couple very similar looking trees in our own back yard, only they are feijoa trees, which will give us piles of fruit in a few months. right now they look like this:
Just when the weather has become intoxicatingly summery, it's time for us to head north. In our last week we managed to make it to a local vineyard for a bit of Christmas shopping....

But beautiful as it is here, I can't wait to bundle into some woolly things and visit everyone for Christmas. It's been 7 months! Hoping for snow!

Camille