One Tree Hill Again :)

Tonight I went up One Tree Hill to check out what all the fuss was about. Paul Holmes had launched his new TV show on Prime with an exclusive report on the "Re-Planting" of a tree at One Tree Hill. The tree "A New Zealand" icon made world famous by the U2 song "One Tree Hill"… anyone interested in the full story can read it here.


More than five years ago two Maori activists had attacked it on two separate occasions and despite attempts to save it, finally it had to go here is a poem that I’ve found that someone has written about the tree being cut down.


On Sunday morning Waitangi day, two men planted a pohutukawa tree up one tree hill with a simple message of bringing New Zealand together they left a plaque reading "One Nation". The Auckland City council quickly removed the tree from the site today but this afternoon it was replaced against the councils will by an even larger pohutukawa.


This story is getting momentum in the media and it is unclear whether the tree will remain. Tonight about 50 people went up one tree hill to have a look at the tree; kids in pyjamas posed for their parents to photograph them next to the tree... each person with a different reason for going to the spot.


Here are the photos I took up one tree hill this evening…




















As we wake today the tree is once again gone and the stake used to hold it has been left broken on the site... from this mornings national newspaper:



A planting spree on One Tree Hill has drawn a swift reaction from the Auckland City Council, which is still waiting for Ngati Whatua's okay to replace the lone pine removed more than four years ago.


A pohutakawa that appeared on the summit at the weekend was vandalised within a day and the council has promised to promptly remove another rogue tree Paul Holmes planted as he launched his show on Prime Television last night.


A spokeswoman for the council said the 2m-high pohutukawa Holmes planted would "absolutely" be removed.


After the first tree appeared at the weekend, Auckland City Mayor Dick Hubbard vowed to have new trees planted by this time next year.


It has been more than four years since the Monterey pine atop One Tree Hill, which suffered chainsaw attacks in 1994 and 1999, was finally removed by the council.