New Zealand - The Amazing Milford Track Post #1

Having internet troubles again... more pictures coming soon...

Amazing flora - that was along the path above....

More amazing flora

Moss forest

Everywhere you look, there is another waterfall....

The lovely tea tree, or, as the Maori people call it:  Manuka. The name"Tea Tree" This name arose because Captian Cook used the leaves to make a 'tea' drink.  The common name "Tea Tree" is also shared with the related Melaleuca tree of Australia suggesting that both were used to make tea by Captain Cook. 

Captian Cook also made beer from the tea tree.   Today, in New Zealand, you can purchase Captian Cook Spruce Beer.   It is Based on Captain Cook’s orginal recipe as first made in Dusky Sound, New Zealand, 1773. Flavoured with ’spruce’(rimu) and tea tree (manuka). Brewed for Heritage foods http://www.heritage%20foods.co.nz/

Manuka products have high antibacterial potency for a limited spectrum of bacteria and are widely available in New Zealand. Similar properties led the Māori to use parts of the plant as natural medicine.




Kakariki parakeets (Cyanoramphus) use the leaves and bark of Manuka and Kanuka to rid themselves of parasites. Apart from ingesting the material, they also chew it, mix it with preen gland oil and apply it to their feathers.



Manuka honey, produced when honeybees gather the nectar from its flowers, is distinctively flavoured, darker and richer in taste than clover honey and has strong antibacterial and antifungal properties.  The finest quality Manuka honey with the most potent antimicrobial properties is produced from hives placed in wild, uncultivated areas with abundant growth of Manuka bushes.

All this from one plant.....