Pohara, New Zealand (February 13, 2026)
New Zealand, so far, has felt like one giant botanical garden. I mean it. Imagine you had unlimited wealth and could design an entire country as a botanical garden. You’d be hard pressed to design something more magnificent and beautiful than New Zealand.
My mother-in-law, Connie Knies, is a huge florophile (i.e. “Someone who has an intense emotional bond with and deep appreciation for flowers.”) Here she is with Elena’s sister, Nancy in front of a beautiful bush of pink flowers (clearly, I’m not a florophile or I’d know what they are standing in front of).
Nancy and Connie enjoying a flowering plant somewhere in NY
In fact, so many of my favorite pictures of my family members are standing in front of some sort of arrangement of flowers. Below is the picture of my wife, Elena, that I have as my phone’s background image. My mom in front of a beautiful arrangement of flowers. My step-mom, Georgiana, in her rose garden. And Will in front of our cherry blossom tree.
So maybe I have a deeper appreciation for flowers than I realized. Whatever the case, I’m seeing New Zealand in full bloom right now. Today I went on a walking tour with Elena as this is our last day here in Pohara and we wanted to savor our final hours in this gorgeous part of the world one last time together.
What’s that now? You want to go for a walk instead of this?!?
Yes, to be sure, Elena, Violet and I have been relaxing so much during out stay here in Pohara. The views are spectacular and we have a new found appreciation for wrap-around porches … and swings.
Violet enjoying the tree swing in the backyard where we’re staying
FYI, in case you missed it in a previous post, Elena, Violet and I are staying in this epic AirBnb with a wonderful and super helpful host, Nikki. If you’re headed this way, do yourself a favor and get off the beaten path to stay here. You’ll love it. Which is one of the reasons I’d like to show you what we did this morning as we wrap up our time here. It’s so beautiful and all within walking distance.
Sun rises and sun sets are spectacular on the beach
And now, let’s take a closer look at all the flowers surrounding these picturesque landscape shots. There’s so much “micro” hidden in the “macro” views. My eyes are pulled between the sweeping mountains and creative cloud formations to the sprawling beach and ocean, and then there are all these splashes of bright beautiful color from flowers everywhere you choose to focus your attention.
No, those are not penguins I’m sorry to say. While Violet and I were star-gazing from 1am to 2am last night, we swear we heard a fairy penguin chirping for … someone. Not sure if it was a baby seeking a parent or an adult seeking companionship (or maybe it was lost?) We were fortunate to see the fairy penguins back in Oamaru (see related post) and it was fully worth it. No luck randomly finding them here. Then again, we weren’t setting out to do so. I’m sure determined guests who wait patiently by the beach are likely to spot them.
Something magical about how the clouds dance with the mountains
Final thought here. There’s something truly magical about how the clouds dance and play around the mountains. They never look the same. Sometimes they are scattered and other times they are thick. They are always “Bob Ross” in that they complete the picture perfect landscape however they choose to show up.
