I took this photo in The Coramandel, I loved the colour of these especially when the backdrop behind them was sea and sky! The trees bear their crimson flowers in December/January.
The New Zealand Christmas tree is a coastal evergreen of the myrtle family.
A gnarled pohutukawa on the clifftop at Cape Reinga, the northern tip of New Zealand, has become of great significance to many New Zealanders although is currently under threat from Myrtle rust disease and being monitored. For the Maori this small, venerated pohutukawa is known as ‘the place of leaping’ or Te Hinenui o te Po. It is from here that the spirits of the dead begin their journey to their traditional homeland of Hawaiki. From this point the spirits leap off the headland and climb down the roots of the 800-year-old tree, descending into the underworld on their return journey.