Mmm...... Am I allowed another go at this?....I think it might be....
Metrosideros albiflora.
Specimens of Metrosideros albiflora were collected (in New Zealand) during Captain James Cook's first voyage circa 1770 in the Pacific on the HMB Endeavour ... Type specimens were included in botanist (Joseph) Banks' Forilegium ...and taken back to England...presumably to Kew Gardens.
The Botanical results of Cook's voyages. New Zealand Plant Conservation Network
Attached here Metrosideros
excelsa from down the road from me...leaf arrangement is identical....opposite and 2-ranked....with tomentose pale reverse.
P1010001.JPG P1010002.JPG
Now....I wonder if the flowers are consistent with this tentative ident.