Rata

Warm sticky day with only an occasional uplifting cooling breeze to dry the brow.  Drought conditions beginning to show on local playing fields and rural outlooks.  It does not seem that long since we were beginning to be frustrated by the constant wet, wet, wet.  Fickle creatures we humans!!

This gorgeous flower is of the Rata kind.  A native of New Zealand and very common at this time of the year.  The Rata is of the same family as the iconic Pohutukawa that blooms at Christmas and mostly in the North Island although I recently saw a young hybrid Pohutukawa that has been breed specifically to grow here in the south.