Mt. Eden afternoon.

Skyline on a Sundial

Last weekend was very uneventful. I had a few papers due the following week. Of course none of them were completed during the weekend, but somehow staying in Auckland made me feel better about it. Amanda, Kevin and I decided to get all day bus passes and see what we could do. Mt. Eden was decided upon as it started to rain outside of the apartments. It would rain on and off all day, but cleared up conveniently enough for us to take some beautiful pictures of the skyline and surrounding area.

Mt. Eden or Maungawhau- the 'Mountain of the Whau Tree' in Maori, is a volcanic mountain that last erupted around 15,000 years ago and the 'majestic bowl-like crater is 50 metres deep'. It is the highest non-man made point on the Auckland Isthmus and attracts many tourists. The suburb of Mt. Eden is kind of an upper crust part of town, with multiple prestigous and equally elitist private boys and girls colleges (high schools). University of Auckland also houses its Epsom campus for Education majors in the suburb.
All of this information according to Wikipedia of course. I am extremely adept at using footnotes now, but unforunately have no idea how to do so in a blog post, or for citing a source such as wikipedia, sorry.

The specs on the rim of the cone, just between the tree and the right edge of the picture.
Those are people. Believe me.

Skyline

Foreground-Mt. Eden, Left-Skyline, Right-Rangitoto

Rangitoto and a massive cloud above Rangitoto(also another volcano).
I think its raining over there.

One Tree Hill has an interesting history. It along with Mt. Eden is a volcanic cone, but was more heavily populated and used by local iwi-Maori tribes. The hill was named One Tree Hill by European settlers for obvious reasons. The tree was later cut down for firewood? Another tree replaced this tree in the late 1870s but was felled by a Maori activist in 2000. Presumably in an act of vandalism against the NZ government regarding injustices against Maori. (Most likely land disputes and rights and interpretations regarding the Treaty of Waitangi- a hotly contested issue in New Zealand politics and culture). Anyways, the tree was never replaced, which has given the hill its new name N(one) Tree Hill.

One Tree Hill, just below the rainbow, where the obelisk stands.

Also, if you're wondering, the american television program One Tree Hill was inspired by the song 'One Tree Hill' written by U2 about an employee of their band from NZ who passed away. (insert wikipedia footnote here).

Cape Reinga, Lord of the Forest, this is not Piha!

So since I've been back from the south island vacation stuff has happened. Unfortunately, I haven't finished posting all the days from the trip-i think there are about 5 left- but I will get to those in time.

Therefore, the following posts will hopefully update you about what I've been doing the past three weekends, well, what I've been doing besides homework/writing essays/going to bars and night clubs.

Three weekends ago a few of us were craving to be on the road again after our journey on the south island. We decided to rent a car and drive up the north island. Although I've been to the Bay of Islands we never made it all the way to the top. So Kevin, Amanda, Pam, Lorissa and I spent all Saturday driving through the countryside up to the Cape. We made it just in time for the sunset.
The interesting point about Cape Reinga, besides the fact that it is a spiritual site for Maori(they believed that this is where their dead went before ascending to their version of 'heaven') is that it is where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet.

It is the coolest thing to see because you can actually tell where the two meet because of the waves breaking in the middle of the ocean. The resulting whirlpools were amazing to watch.


If you look at the bottom right corner of this picture you'll see islands just along the horizon. There is an old story about a Maori chief who claimed these islands for his iwi (tribe). The greatness behind the story is that he swam to the islands to claim them for his people.




After watching the sunset, we drove back down 2 hours where our hostel was located. It was right on the water and was one of the nicer hostels we've stayed at. After making a stop at the liquor store across the street-before it closed at 7pm- we sat out on the lawn overlooking the view. And it was again that we saw the and hazy but brightly lit milky way just beyond the black ocean.

The next morning we woke up to make the drive back South. This time, we drove along the West Coast, and through the ancient Kauri Forest.

This was a random beach that we stopped at. It was kind of a bay? I have no idea actually. We were looking for these massive stones that were supposed to be really great. We couldn't find any and guessed this must be the wrong place after walking around for thirty minutes. Still, nice enough I guess.
And then we reached the Kauri Forest and Tane Mahuta- Lord of the Forest. The largest Kauri tree in New Zealand is estimated to be around 2000 years old. It was a tree and it was massive.

We finally made it back to Auckland, but that wasnt the end of our weekend. We had the rental car until 10:00 am on Monday, so we woke up early the following day to drive to Piha, a black sand volcanic beach that was made famous by the movie "The Piano". Well, we never made it to Piha but here are the pictures of Whatipu, a beach just 45 minutes directly West of Auckland.

Somehow, it is always so obvious when I get back to Auckland after a much needed break from the city. Like a beacon of civilization, the skytower ominously finds me, even when its behind. It reminds me that I'm destined to spend the weekdays in the city again, not out in what feels like the middle of nowhere; surrounded by beauty so striking it looks more unnatural than the concrete and glass facade of the skytower's reflection in a dirty campervan's rear window.

Day 6; Milford Sound Cruize.

Milford Sound has to be one of the most iconic sights of New Zealand. We had finally reached the sound, and we all woke up early to catch the 9:00 chartered boat. The cruise cost thirty six dollars, and came with a complimentary muffin when on board. We were all starving after only eating muesli(a granola concotion with fruit). An unrelenting and tiring joke emerged. We had paid $36 dollars for the muffin AND received a free cruise.
Milford Sound, like Eglinton Valley, was carved out by a glacier tens of thousands of years ago. Our captain announced this and other facts over a speakersystem onboard, and admittedly I only caught a few of them as I gazed at the walls of the Sound. Mitre peak, pictured at the end of the previous post, is the one of the highest peaks in the world to rise up from the bottom of the sea. Because the sound was carved out from glacial ice, when sitting on the top of the water, you only see half of a mirrored image. Below the water, the walls of the sound run 300 meters down into a "V" shape. This made the peaks seem even more impressive in our imaginations as we passed them by. For one reason or another (high ISO setting?) some of the pictures that I took came out a bit grainy. I got a few decent shots and these are among them.

The opening of the sound into the Tasman Sea

Sight of a 'tree avalanche' It rains a LOT in Milford Sound, which is one reason for all of the waterfalls. However, when it doesn't rain for a long period of time the soil becomes loose, and then, it will inevitably downpour again, giving way to an avalanche of trees that fall into the cold dark water at the bottom of the sound.

A charted sea plane is at the top of this picture.
At the bottom is the waterfall pictured above.

Fur seals hanging out