Cornwall Park

Cornwall Park sits at the base of One Tree Hill in the middle of Auckland. It’s an oasis in a bustling city and it’s been keeping me sane during lockdown. Inside the city it is incredibly noisy: cars, motorcycles, buses, trains, traffic light crossings, honking, music, yelling. As cities go, Auckland is a small city but it is the biggest city I've ever lived in and the noise has been a difficult adjustment. It is constant, even when I'm sleeping. But here inside Cornwall Park it is peaceful and the birds are louder than the city pressing in around me. Every day at lunch I climb over the low stone fence that separates it from the hospital where I work and sprawl out on the grass. Today I lay here feeling the warm soil beneath me, taking big deep breaths and listening to the earth speak. The grass rustles gently in the breeze, insects chirp and the birds join with a multitude of competing song. The branches of the yellow blossomed kōwhai trees shake under the weight of white throated tui wheeling in and out and around them. I close my eyes to soak in the sun and feel a shadow cross overhead. A bird flaps, lands in the tree above me. I open my eyes and watch it perched there until another bird swoops in for a landing, chasing the first one away. Oh, the drama! I turn my head to smile at the cows that meander through the park: big heifers with swooshing tails trailed by cute gangly-legged calves. I love the earthy smell of them, balanced by the delicate daffodils swaying beside me. The grass is an impossible emerald green, nourished by frequent rain and brought to dazzling glory by the spring sunlight. The sun beams down, unfiltered by ozone (there’s a hole in the ozone layer above New Zealand) and I theorize this is what makes the sky as magnificent as it is. These southern skies are unlike what we have back home; it starts with the lightest baby blue at the horizon and ombres into an electrifying cobalt overhead. Aotearoa, New Zealand, Land of the Long White Cloud—she is stunning when the sun is shining. Spring looks good on her.

It looks like something painted in a picture book and I am here living it.

Fun with self timer in the park :)

Kōwhai trees (pronounced koh-fi; meaning "yellow" in te reo Māori)

Jewel tones <3

Pictures don't even do it justice