Oh! How Lovely...

We have been pretty busy this past week. The holidays are over and people are returning to work, so we are able to make more contacts, coordinate more, receive more inquiries, obtain more direction – generally just get things done. That is good!



We had a long week-end following New Years day. We took advantage of that time and continued our exploring in and around Auckland. We spend nearly a half day in what is called the Auckland Domain. It is a very large park near down-town Auckland. It has both formal gardens, natural bush, playing fields, museums, theaters, ponds, streams, fields, picnic grounds, etc, etc.

I know we have shown and commented about the flowers before, but we keep seeing more and just have to take pictures of them. You ought to feel somewhat fortunate that I am not including all of the pictures we've taken this week in this update.

We've also shown and commented on all sorts of trees. Again, we keep seeing more that have to be captured for memory purposes -- we have some limitations in that department. This is a Magnolia tree. We all know that Magnolias get large, but we thought this one was noteworthy. I was in the picture only to proivde scale (comparison). (I normally don't like being used in that way.)

Diane thought this was a good shot. It was taken to illustrate the moss growing on the rock bridge. We are finding that there is good reason for so much moss, ferns, and lichen – there is some form of precipitation almost every day… but if not, its cloudy so things don’t dry out as fast as a West Texas weed.

This is a picture of Diane, as we were just entering an “urban bush.” -- Notice the umbrella, we carry one every time we are going to be out -- As with most pictures that are “pretty,” this one still doesn’t capture the whole ambiance.

After we left the Auckland Domain we came across one of the 48 extinct volcanoes in Auckland. This one is called “One Tree Hill.” The terracing was done many centuries ago by the Maoris. The one tree for which the hill was named is now gone; and others have grown up in its place.

Sheep were introduced to New Zealand relatively recently (a few hundred years ago), now they say that there are over 40 sheep for every person.

This is a picture of down town Auckland from the top of One Tree Hill. It was raining when I took the picture (of course) so it is not very clear in the distance.

I was impressed by the volcanic rock wall leading up to the top of One Tree Hill. And I thought it would be a good reminder that lichen grows on everything that doesn’t keep moving.

The meadows are just lovely -- lush and green. This was of particular interest to us because of how dense the population is nearer Auckland (houses on top of houses on top of houses). You don’t have to travel very far from Auckland, however, before you are able to see hundreds of miles of this type of terrain and beauty.

We haven’t even scratched the surface of the local attractions or trails to tramp. And I’m not sure if we ever will … there is just too much to do and to experience within a few short miles, so why drive a half day to see some more of the same things?