Six days of stormy weather, two hyperactive kids who had to stay at home and had already watched 4 hours of tv plus two translation deadlines for me but no chances to concentrate myself on the work - we had to get out of the house, no matter how drenched we were going to get.

The result of our bush walk was a big load of these beautiful heart shaped nutshells from Johnson Reserve. I have not the faintest idea what tree these nuts have fallen out and if they're native to NZ. Probably they're not. This reminds me that I was hoping to know half of the native trees by the end of my first year in NZ. It looks like I'll have to postpone this goal to next year, just like many others.