In support of National Novel Writing Month
(I am committing to writing a blog post every day with photo's for one month. )
Te Ko Utu Park Cambridge.
How many of you who live within the Bay of Plenty or the Waikato know about Te Ko utu Park and lake in the middle of Cambridge?
My husband Graham has been living in this area all of his life and he had never heard about it or been there.
In my opinion it's one of Cambridge's best kept secrets.
The exotic tree specimens are really beautiful and perfect for backlit phtograpraphy.
Beautiful spring shoots
I have many fond memories of it as a young child because I went to St Peter's Catholic School in Cambridge.
I spent lots of idyllic moments with the Nuns and my school friends doing nature studies around that lake.
In those days it was an overgrown wilderness filled with dragon flies as big as your hand and millions of croaking frogs and screeching cicadas.
It was here that I had my first experience of collecting tadpoles, putting them into preserving jars and watching them develop into baby frogs.
Considerable development of the site had been undertaken in the fifteen years since I last visited it by the Waipa council and Cambridge Tree Trust amongst others.
The bull rushes have been cleared, the perimeter has a wooden base around it, and carp and catfish have been added to keep it clean.
A large aerating waterfall with pump has been put in to help alleviate stagnation and by the looks of the relatively clear water, it's working.
Hundred's of varieties of European trees have been planted around the perimeter.
There are lillipads and weeping willows, copper beeches and elms, oaks and spruces, silver birches and too many other trees for me to name
The place could have been picked out of pages from a book about English country gardens.
The leaves of these beautiful trees had that newly minted Spring freshness of colour about them and the day was hot and sunny.
T
here were no frogs to be heard at all but in their place were nesting Pukeko with their young Scaups and Dab chicks.
Apparently they released a set of white swans a number of years ago but they escaped.
There were small collections of ducks and I'm sure I saw an eel.
Maybe it was a catfish but I didn't see any whiskers.
The walk around the lake was civilised and not too difficult and I was in heaven snapping reflections in the water, back lit leaves and to other vegetation.
After the walk we went up to the band rotunda and the rose garden and the hot house up the top of the hill near the bowling greens.
I used to go to Brownies just down the road from this site so I knew the area very well.
Graham and I spent some time going around the rose beds smelling roses.
It's a wonderful thing to do.
Smelling roses, one of our favourite things to do when we visit the beautuiful botannical gardens of New Zealand.
If you haven't done it so far this summer don't waste any more time. Head off to a rose garden near you.
There are plenty of them around the Waikato and Bay of Plenty
Mine are just starting to come out.
I can't want to bury my nose in them.
Creative Quotes of the day.
“One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon-instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today.”
Dale Carnegie
Henry David Thoreau
Walt Whitman
All photographs and images on this blog are for sale.
Email me at jkeen@clear.net.nz with your enquiry.
Phone 07 3463435
All photographs are copyrighted by Janet Keen and may not be used for any purpose without written permission.
(I am committing to writing a blog post every day with photo's for one month. )
Te Ko Utu Park Cambridge.
How many of you who live within the Bay of Plenty or the Waikato know about Te Ko utu Park and lake in the middle of Cambridge?
My husband Graham has been living in this area all of his life and he had never heard about it or been there.
In my opinion it's one of Cambridge's best kept secrets.
The exotic tree specimens are really beautiful and perfect for backlit phtograpraphy.
I have many fond memories of it as a young child because I went to St Peter's Catholic School in Cambridge.
I spent lots of idyllic moments with the Nuns and my school friends doing nature studies around that lake.
In those days it was an overgrown wilderness filled with dragon flies as big as your hand and millions of croaking frogs and screeching cicadas.
It was here that I had my first experience of collecting tadpoles, putting them into preserving jars and watching them develop into baby frogs.
Considerable development of the site had been undertaken in the fifteen years since I last visited it by the Waipa council and Cambridge Tree Trust amongst others.
The bull rushes have been cleared, the perimeter has a wooden base around it, and carp and catfish have been added to keep it clean.A large aerating waterfall with pump has been put in to help alleviate stagnation and by the looks of the relatively clear water, it's working.
Hundred's of varieties of European trees have been planted around the perimeter. There are lillipads and weeping willows, copper beeches and elms, oaks and spruces, silver birches and too many other trees for me to name
The place could have been picked out of pages from a book about English country gardens.
The leaves of these beautiful trees had that newly minted Spring freshness of colour about them and the day was hot and sunny.
T
here were no frogs to be heard at all but in their place were nesting Pukeko with their young Scaups and Dab chicks. Apparently they released a set of white swans a number of years ago but they escaped.
There were small collections of ducks and I'm sure I saw an eel.
Maybe it was a catfish but I didn't see any whiskers.
The walk around the lake was civilised and not too difficult and I was in heaven snapping reflections in the water, back lit leaves and to other vegetation.
After the walk we went up to the band rotunda and the rose garden and the hot house up the top of the hill near the bowling greens.
I used to go to Brownies just down the road from this site so I knew the area very well.
Graham and I spent some time going around the rose beds smelling roses.
It's a wonderful thing to do.
If you haven't done it so far this summer don't waste any more time. Head off to a rose garden near you.
There are plenty of them around the Waikato and Bay of Plenty
Mine are just starting to come out.
I can't want to bury my nose in them.
Creative Quotes of the day.
“One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon-instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today.”
Dale CarnegieAll photographs and images on this blog are for sale.
Email me at jkeen@clear.net.nz with your enquiry.
Phone 07 3463435
All photographs are copyrighted by Janet Keen and may not be used for any purpose without written permission.
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