Increasingly, one of my greatest pleasures while travelling is discovering new public gardens.
Today it was Victoria Esplanade, in Palmerston North. I arrived a little late to explore much of the park, but was very happy wandering around the gardens near the cafe, watching bees feasting on the abundant flowers.
Zimmerbitch 
Bee stalking is a favourite activity of mine. Love the top photo Su!
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Thanks Suzanne. I didn’t even have to stalk these – there were so many.
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First things I look for in a new town are gardens and art galleries.
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Kindred spirits!! Book and junk shops aren’t far behind for me — and good coffee.
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Sure are, Jack is a big op shop fanatic, can’t go past one. And don’t forget art shops….
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Good independent art shops are definitely a find!!
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👍
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Wonderful picture!
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Thanks so much
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So lovely – longing now for some activity in nature. Love bees and gardens. Palmerston North brings back memories…As a young girl, I had a pen-friend there for many years, but then we lost contact. When we traveled in NZ some years ago, I tried to find her again. I even became a member of her old school and wrote letters to the people she had mentioned in her letters – never got any answer. So sad. Maybe she migrated to Australia? Or she just did not want to meet. It would have been so wonderful to sit down for a chat over the old days and listen to each others’ stories.
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That is sad. I guess she could have left NZ permanently — or felt her life hadn’t turned out the way she wanted and didn’t want to be reminded of the person she once was. I’m not sure I’d be recognisable (not just physically) to someone who knew me as a child/teenager.
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I was thinking of that too. Strange though that her school mates – nobody I wrote to – answered. In the end I gave up, but I gave it a hard try. But what fun we could have had!
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I’d be tempted to think that she asked them not to reply. Otherwise at least one person would have got in touch if only to say they’d lost contact with her.
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You might be right there.
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i love to watch the bees
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Me too 😀
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such ‘lovely-ness’ when we’re shivering in the winter cold…. 😉
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😀 I was so happy to see bees in big numbers. Very reassuring.
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The first one is superb.
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Thank you; glad you like it 😀
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Great captures!
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Thanks Robert 🙏
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You take such great photos of bees. I have taken one…..
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Thank you 🙏 Having a macro lens helps so much.
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It makes me happy just looking at your bee photos giving me hope for the return of spring up here. Great captures, Su!
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I’m glad Peter. I was so happy to see them out in such big numbers.
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I am afraid of bees—would never got that close! But these are wonderful photos.
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I hate wasps, and keep my distance, but bees are so fascinating. And I work upon the basis that they are more interested in food than in me.
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You are right—wasps are the evil ones. But to my irrational brain, they’re all the same.
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Wasp stings are far worse 🙁
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Very cheery for a cold winter morning, thank you Su.
Leslie
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You’re welcome Leslie 😀
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🙂
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My comment exactly – thanks for the buzzzzzzz on this cold day Su
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🙂
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Love bees! Love gardens. Palmerston North rang a bell when I read the name. The young man I travelled overland with in 1973 spent some time living there with his father. Unfortunately he also spent time living with his mother in South Africa…
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Palmerston North is surprisingly nice (confession: last time I was here was 1980 😬). It has a reputation as being a bit boring — not something you could say about SA in the 1970s ☹️
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Indeed!
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Beautiful!
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🙏 thank you
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It has been a very buzzy day, hasn’t it?
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😀 I drove through the town of Bulls today. Every shop and amenity I town had been given some terrible bull pun. Unbullievable.
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Lovely photos Su. I am a great lover of bees, particularly bumble bees, I used to let them run on my hands as a little boy, never been stung. I find them so beautiful.
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I’ve been stung a few times — I’m more cautious now.
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Ouch!
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Fantastic shots, Su! Bee happy indeed!! 😄💕
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Thank you so much my friend.
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You’re very welcome, Su! 😄💕
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These are incredible! 🙂
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🙏
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