Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Green, Green, Our World is Green

Another day, another volcano to climb. Actually, we climbed two of these grassy hills this day. There are about 50 dormant volcanos around Auckland, and we may see the majority of them before we leave here.

We normally pack a lunch (see the plastic bag), find a hill we haven't climbed before, and spend a relaxing several hours wandering around it. Although Auckland stays green year round, when Spring comes, the grass greens up even more. There are daisies blooming in the grass below.


Most of the hills are part of the city park system, and are well maintained, clean and beautiful. All the walls and edges of roads are made with volcanic rock, which, obviously, is not hard to come by. The hillsides are fresh green, and flowers bloom everywhere. The happy hiker is up ahead, always ahead of me :o). He loves these hills!


All of the hills around Auckland were terraced by the early Maoris. We've been on many, but this was the first time we'd seen the crater of one.


This view from the high edge of the crater shows just how steep the crater is. A road has been built down on the lower edge of the crater, where the lava and ash must have flowed out into where the city now is below. These hills and craters are still considered sacred spots to the Maoris. You can see the size of the crater by comparing the car size. Also the two white spots in the bottom of the crater are people.


What a beautiful day! The last of the winter camellias were blooming. Sun shining, light breeze, green grass, flowers in bloom, beautiful views. Spring will be here to stay before long. This is a beautiful land any time, and we feel so fortunate to have this time to enjoy it.


1 comment:

Amy said...

What a piddley lunch. No wonder you two are both getting so skinny!

That aside... those are beautiful!