Obviously there are not only animals in other countries (and at home) you can take pictures of. There are many beautiful flowers and plants as well. Some of them look familiar others look very different to ours depending on the destination. Many of the following pictures are from New Zealand again. Who might have guessed? *grins* The picture on the top shows a special kind of tree I saw on eastern Lombok (Indonesia). Looks quiet interesting, doesn't it?

Pohutukawa

So let's start with something special from NZ: the puhutukawa. The picture shows a blossom of the tree which is also called the "New Zealand Christmas tree". That's because its flowering time is exactly at Christmas. That sounds a little bit strange for Europeans but I think it's funny!

Edelweiss

I nearly missed this edelweiss on a track in Italy. It was standing so inconspicuous next to the track like it did not want to be seen. Of course I did not pick it. I was happy to see one in kind as well.

This tiny baby-pine-apple I also discovered by accident on Bali. No wonder! It was only 4 cm big. If anybody will get fed up with that? I guess it will take quiet a time until it is ready.

Flax

The maori people used flax for nearly everything in former times, e.g. for making baskets or clothing. What you can not see from the picture is that it was quiet a lot bigger than me. On this picture you only see the top of it when I took the picture against the sky from beneath. Fantastic colours, aren't they?

Silverfern

That's the way a silverfern looks from underneath. It is one of the symbols for NZ like the kiwi. When I was looking for this fern to take a picture I couldn't find any. After I got the picture it was everywhere. *grins*

Rainforest

That was the entrance to a small track into the rainforest in New Zealand. In this forest you could see kauri trees as well. But this rainforest has its very own beauty as well. It really is very wet in there. Who named it rainforest?

Young fern

This picture shows very well where the design of the fern-roll for bonecarvings comes from. I still get fascinated by this picture. I did not expect it to be that beautiful when I took this picture.

Tane Mahuta

Tane mahuta means "God of the forest" in maori and he is 51,5m high. So it is the biggest kauri tree in NZ. The most interesting thing about kauri trees is that their trunk is totally straight and has no branches until the beginning of the crown. The oldest trees are more than 2000 years old.