I used to live very close to Richmond Park. Late one night I came home to find a badger sitting on the doorstep.
I know that this was posted a long time ago but I am only just getting up to date with stuff on here. This is the Chalice. It was created to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the founding of the European city of Christchurch. The design is made up of native plants in recognition of the fact that Māori were here first. The official blurb says: The leaves depicted are mapou, kowhai, mahoe, totara, karamu, titoki, ngaio, maratata and koromiko. The leaf patterns - complex constructions made up of computer routed shapes - reflect the geometric features of the Cathedral architecture, windows and tiles. As the leaves become larger, higher up the sculpture, they become more detailed and less dense. The Cathedral, close to it, is now a ruin following the 2011 earthquake. The repair of the cathedral has been mired in political fighting so it is still behind the hoardings you can see in the picture. I use some of those leaves in the gin I make, which makes me realise that a chalice is a good symbol of that, too. Edit. Now I see that Frenchie got to the official site.
please log in to view this image The baobab tree, commonly known as the “Tree of Life,” is indigenous to the African continent, as well as certain regions of Australia and Madagascar, and is capable of living for thousands of years. Its scientific name, Adansonia digitata, honors the French botanist Michel Adanson, who documented this remarkable tree in the 18th century.
That's a magnificent example of a baobab tree - unlikely to be in Australia, I've never heard of them that size, even in the Kimberleys where the bigger ones grow. Smaller versions grow in Queensland, where they're known as bottle trees, not just because of the shape, but because they can hold water. The biggest I've seen was in Central Qld when working as part of a Forestry gang. Six of us tried to guage its size by holding hands around the trunk, but we never even got halfway.
It could actually be more than one tree - just clumped together? The height looks about normal - they do grow up to 100 feet high.
