Nov 18, 2025 Pukekura Park
The ‘Jewel of New Plymouth’ is Pukekura Park, a botanic garden developed since 1876 from a ‘wasteland’, ‘a fern, furze (gorse) and tutu filled gully’. Note here that ‘tutu’ is a very poisonous plant, although the Māori had enough experience with it to use medicinally and to make a drink from the carefully strained juice from the berries (the flesh of the berry is edible, but the seeds are poisonous!). We entered the shady, lush ‘gully’ and marveled at the beauty of the place! Forests planted with native and introduced trees shaded the gravel walkways alongside streams and lakes. We parked at the entrance nearest the ‘fernery’, a tropical greenhouse filled with colorful blooms!
It was so fragrant and lush inside!
We then meandered some of the paths, after stopping at the ‘teahouse’ for ice cream cones! The azaleas in the lower right of the picture above are blooming in the ‘Azalea Dell’ at the far end of the long lake.
The duck was preening on the railing outside the teahouse. The Poet’s Bridge is in the distance.
The upper picture is in the ‘fernery’, the statue is so touching! The lower picture is on a smaller lake and the sculpture “Aotearoa” (long white cloud) is reflected among the lily pads.
Added to the park in 1934 was a private estate known as Brooklands Park and includes a small zoo with mostly non-native and farmyard animals.
The Australian parrots and lorikeets are as colorful as the flowers in the park!