The caves of Bethell's and O'Neil's

You already know that I like caves. At present count, Bethell's has five caves, a large crack, and two small ones that water comes through. O'Neil's has one cave. Here is a tour of most of the points, or rather, holes, of interest.   

The descending sun is giving us some great color. Starting on the right, you see two caves close together. Then a narrow one behind the person in red, and a really narrow crack farthest left. 

Here are the first two on the right side, shown from a slightly different angle.

I go in this one, 

and come out this one. 

Here's the narrow one, just left of center in the first picture.

This one doesn't go as far in as the other two do.

I'm not going to call this one a cave. I suppose that it qualifies, but I think it's more of a crack than a cave. 

For the next cave, we have to go to the southern end of Bethell's. Find the highest point of land in this picture, and look straight below it. The cave is shaped like a mouse-hole in a cartoon. It is about 1 kilometer away. 

We're getting close now. The beach is littered with seaweed and boasts oddly shaped rocks.

There it is. The sea in front of it looks fairly harmless right now,

But the currents here are flowing in all directions and when they meet, the water can only go straight up.

Jeanne is going for a closer look at the 'mouse hole' and then at the 5th of Bethell's caves.  This last one is to Jeanne's left. If you look carefully, there is line about 20 feet in front of Jeanne that runs from the sea to the left edge of the picture. This is the channel from the sea to the fifth cave. It doesn't look wide from this angle and distance but it is.  

This is the fifth cave. You can see it has a sand floor. The floor lies about 6 feet down from the ledge of rock Jeanne is standing on.  It's tempting.  It looks like you could climb down and walk up into the cave without getting your feet wet.

But then, this happens. This shows the leading edge of a 3 or 4 foot high, very fast moving wave that rushes into the cave. I don't know how far in the cave goes, or how high the sand gets, or if a person would be safe if he got to the end of the cave before the wave came, but I don't intend to find out.  

This is looking away from the fifth cave. This is the channel the water rushes up into the cave through, and right now, you see the water running back out.
Jeanne was standing and watching all this happen when a wave came up over the ledge she is on and went over her gumboots.  You can see that this ledge is wet. High tide is only about 1 hour away and we decided it was time to get out of there. There is no seaweed growing here and the volcanic rocks give excellent traction, but the power of the waves can be intimidating. 

We're on our way back. The twin  peaks above Jeanne are the north end of Bethell's. They're about 1.8 kilometers away.

We have now left the north end of Bethell's now and are looking down on to O'Neil's.  Its cave is about 1 kilometer away. The hills are the beginning of the Waitakere Range. The highest peaks in the range are just under 2,000 feet. 

Look, Jeanne is waiting for us. "Come on in," she says.  

Here's another view of the cave that I really like. What appears to be another cave on the right side is just a 'concavity.' Goes in just a few feet under the overhang.

Plenty of headroom and even a few shells lie around for those who want them. This cave even has a back door, as you can see. BTW, the bag Jeanne is carrying is for rubbish that she picks up from the beach. Both she and Allie always do that.  

There's a bit of a draft in here but the view from the picture window is spectacular. 

Jeanne is sitting just to the right of the 'back door' of the cave.

It's getting really late in the day. The surf  is getting even wilder and it's time to go home.

Back at Bethell's the crowds are disappearing. Rain is visible in the west. Sidney, Australia is about 1,300 miles from this beach.  -djf

Jeanne's birthday

Even if we are on the other side of the globe, we can share Jeanne's birthday with you. (5/26)

The day started early for us. We got on the bus for Auckland at 7:20 a.m. It gradually filled and by the time we got to the city, it was standing room only. We got off a few stops short of Britomart, but saved some walking by doing so. We headed for the Event Cinema in the Metro Center. 

We were a little early so we took the opportunity to see the Auckland Town Hall that dates back to 1909. I love looking around old buildings. I may have to come back to this one. 

I haven't researched it yet. I don't know what sort of architectural style it shows, but I will.  

The door was open.  Makes me want to stroll around it's corridors. 

It looks interesting. 

It was time now to head back to the theater for our Hubble Telescope movie. If you have any interest at all in space, see it if you get the opportunity. It was only 43 minutes long, but was presented in 3-D, complete with funny glasses and in an I-max theater. The theater probably seated about 400 but there were only 4 of us there.    
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_%28film%29

This place looks like M. C. Escher designed it. It is huge and I love that they retained the facade, I'm guessing, of one of the buildings that this Center grew up around and engulfed.
We bought our ticket on the sixth floor, but the movie was shown on the seventh. There were theaters all the way to the twelfth with escalators and walkways crisscrossing the interior spaces. There is no way I could take a picture that would do it justice. This one gives a hint though. 

We weren't hungry for lunch yet when the movie was over, so we walked down to the Queen's Wharf and looked at this tug boat.

Then we watched a group of girls, all dressed in hooded, ankle length raincoats, as they left on their jet boat ride.  The stats say that this boat has two engines, 600 horsepower, goes almost 60 mph, and does 360 degree donuts   They're gonna get wet.
I've seen this thing in action (spinning) while we were on a ferry.  I would not want to ride it. There are bars in front of each row of girls. The captain told them when he puts his hand up in the air and rotates it in a big circle, to grab the bar like they mean it!  

By the time we returned to the Federal Deli, we were hungry and so was most of Auckland. We had to wait just a couple of minutes, but then got a corner booth in the back. A very good spot. You can see that's it not a big place at all. 

Here is part of their menu

Another shot across to the bar.

This is the hallway that gives you access to the restrooms. The interesting thing is that I saw people repeatedly coming from the right at the top of this little incline and using them. Turns out, there is another restaurant up there, called The Depot, which shares the facilities.
From a door on the left up there, I saw a kitchen guy hauling a long skewer with whole chickens on it and several whole stalks of celery under one arm. He made his way right through the crowd  to the grill area, on the far left side of the picture that Jeanne is in. I like that kind of atmosphere in a deli.

I love this quote. (see the side bar picture of Reichl's book) 

We have now gone to the Federal Deli for Jeanne's last two birthdays. We have a Tradition established!  

We were tired after our lunch and hopped the train for home. I brought home the Federal coffee mug. They had lots of souvenirs available but I liked that one.  -djf

Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you anywhere...Albert Einstein

Recently, I took another Sunday afternoon walk along the Opanuku. Needed some exercise, and I had an errand to do.  

It was uniformly overcast that day, but lightly so. Had it been sunny, I would have tried to shoot in the direction away from the sun to avoid glare. The overcast though, seemed to make the entire sky glow, so glare happened wherever I pointed. I think it adds to the mood.

There is such an other-worldly look along this stream.  We could be anywhere and in anytime. I've always had a vivid imagination...         

                                                     

"Eve...Eve...Eve, honey, can you hear me? Where are you?  Hey, honey, I'm getting hungry. What's for dinner?  Eve? Eve?

"What's rustling in that tangle? Dinosaurs? Pirates? Elephants? Head hunters?"  

                                                 

"Hmm, I'm not even sure that this is earth anymore. Yoda, quit fooling around, is that you?"     

                                                                             

"Okay, this is a little better, looks like earth again, but rather creepy nonetheless. Was that a wolf howl?  How do I know Igor isn't lurking behind that big tree, awaiting another victim for his master to experiment on?"  

"What knocked over those cabbage palms? Must have been huge. Could it still be around?"

       

"They say a poison blow-gun dart to your neck starts paralysing you in seconds.      

"I know I saw that vine move, there's something up there. I know it."     

"Oh wait, Here's Palomino Drive already and Jeanne told me to pick up some Italian bread for dinner. The Superette is just around the corner... Boy, I got a little carried away there for a while...whew..."                       -djf

"All sorrows are less with bread" --Cervantes

For today's post, I am serving you a succession of unique dishes, flavoured with the sometimes saucy thoughts of experts on food.  

"Pull up a chair.  Take a taste.  Join us.  Life is endlessly delicious. --Ruth Reichl

Haggis is a mystery to me no longer!  He is a friend.  (sorry for the focus problem)

I find that this Scottish friend of mine thinks Way too much of himself though. My other friend, American hash, could be haggis' twin brother and yet costs about half as much.  

"Seize the moment!  Remember all those women on the Titanic who waved off the dessert cart." --Erma Bombeck

I stand up and salute whoever invented this bit of Heaven on earth.  Get some if you can find it don't worry about the brand. Spare no expense. Mortgage the house, get a second job, sell your shoes if you have to, but get some!

The only time to eat diet food is while you're waiting for the steak to cook.  --Julia Childs

To tell the truth, putting some green pepper-corns 'on the vine' into your stew will not change it dramatically, but Come On, look at how beautiful they are.  How can you not want to throw one in the pot?  

Popcorn for breakfast?  Why not?  It's a grain, like, like, grits, but with high self-esteem.  --James Paterson.

If you were to look up "acquired taste," in the dictionary, and your's is not a pocket-sized edition, it'll probably have this as an illustration.

What I say is that, if a man really likes potatoes, he must be a pretty decent sort of fellow.  --A. A. Milne

This is 'pickled vegetable.'  It is cabbage that has been sun-dried, chopped, mixed with salt, and packed tightly into this stone-ware crock.  No, it is not anything like sauer-kraut.  The crock is re-usable and it costs about four dollars.  I use a little in my stir fry. Jeanne and Allie have politely said, "No thanks."

If two heads are better than one, then what about double chins?  On that note I will help myself to seconds.  Jarod Kintz

Have you ever had sticky rice at a Thai restaurant?  Well, that's what glutinous rice is and the good folks at Kimlan start with a big helping of that. Then, they mix in a special combination of bacterias and yeasts and water.  And they let it bubble and brew.
Their advertising is accurate. This stuff does have a decidedly 'original' flavor.
And it's slightly alcoholic.
I love it. Jeanne took one taste.  Allie has yet to try it.
Hhmm, maybe they'd like it better with rice glue pudding?

The odds of going to the store for a loaf of bread and coming out with only a loaf of bread are 3 billion to one.  --Erma Bombeck

See, Erma knows.  That's why I can't possibly walk into a store and not experiment.  What did Ruth  Reichl say? "Life is endlessly delicious?"

Had you ever considered eating a duck tongue?
Did you know that a duck tongue looks like that? 
How do you know that Is a duck tongue?
Did you know that you can also buy mild duck tongue?
Did you know you can buy other rather unusual duck parts, in mild or spicy?


"I'm really impressed with the convenient single-serving packets.  So easy to grab a few in the morning when a guy is running late for the office.  You wives can always serve some on crackers if the girls stop over for tea. And they're great for the lunchboxes of your picky eaters...Why not throw in a few extra? Kids love to share treats on the playground."

Okay, admit it, your stomachs are rumbling, aren't they?  I don't blame you.  

Why not take a chance and buy something new the next time you dash in for a loaf of bread?  Make Erma proud of you. It doesn't have to be something quite as weird (and wonderful) as the items listed above. Just try something new.

Enjoy your next meal...

First though, Robert Burns will say Grace...

Some hae meat and canna eat,

And some wad eat that want it.

But we hae meat and we can eat,

And sae the Lord be thankit.

Amen                                                                                        

--oh, in case anyone is interested, check this out. --djf  http://www.eattheweeds.com/stomolophus-meleagris-edible-jellyfish-2/