The real Fern Gully

We left behing a spectacular sunrise on Tuesday and headed back down south to Hamilton to finish up some work with Wintec, the polytech there.

Afterwards, we had a wonderful dinner and overnight stay with Judy and Gavin Smith in Cambridge (Gavin is the artist we studied watercolours with last month). Wednesday we headed back north, stopping in Auckland for some appointments at the Auckalnd University of Technology. Midafternoon, however, found us at Fernglen, a native plant sanctuary in the middle of the suburb of Birkinhead, on the north shore of Auckland. This marvelous little gem has been preserved through the efforts of Muriel Fisher and her late husband Bill Fisher, and her son Malcolm, now the curator of Fernglen, for more than sixty years.


The bush walk through the deep gully is sheltered by tall native trees, with an understory of tree ferns, native shrubs, and ferns. It is a magical, shadowy trek through dappled sunlight and moist greenness, enhanced by a chorus of the varied twitterings and flutelike calls of a pair of tuis and a number of fantails. It's like entering another world, and the occasional sounds filtering in from the surrounding suburb seem unreal.

We were fortunate that both Malcolm and Muriel, who is now over ninety, were at home, and they graciously showed us around the alpine house and regaled us with tales of the history of Fernglen. Muriel has been fascinated and inspired by the native flora of New Zealand since she was a young girl, when her determination to go overnight tramping in the wild areas surrounding Wellington was viewed with horror by her Victorian era parents. She is as spunky today as I imagine she was then. I can only hope that I have half of Muriel's spark and wit when I reach ninety! We felt very privileged to have spent time with this special lady in this beautiful place, and thank Arnold and Ruth Dench, our botanical friends from Wellington, for their referral here.