It was a busy day in Waitemata Harbor. "The Fleet's In."

Today maked a red-letter day in my time here in New Zealand. I had recently turned 65 (a red-letter day by itself), had applied for and received my super-gold card, and was now in Auckland to purchase my Gold AtHop card. This wonderful card would allow me free travel on all  buses and trains in Auckland. After buying my card (only $10) through the customer service people in Britomart, I thought I'd take a quick look at the harbor and see if any cruise ships were in port.  I like to do that because sometimes ships of a really montrous size are tied up. They're impressive. The harbor is just across the street from Britomart and I had about 20 minutes before the next train. 

As I exited the building and looked up Queen Street, I immediately saw this guy walking along. I assumed that he was the captain (or something) from a cruise ship. 

 He looks like a cruise ship captain, right?

And sure enough, when I looked toward the harbor, there was a cruise ship. Not all that big, but a nice enough one. 

At this point, I was still convinced that I had spied the Captain of this vessel.  

but then, 

I spotted this ship tied up right across the harbor from the cruise ship. I asked a guy standing near me on the wharf if he knew what that ship was and he replied that it was a training ship from Chile. 

Hmmm, I thought. How unusual. 

I was on Queen's Wharf at that point, and decided to see if anything interesting was happening on the next wharf over...As a matter of fact, quite a bit was...

I discovered that there were ships from all over the world tied up at every available wharf, and a bunch anchored out in the harbor as well. (The U.S.S. Sampson was out there.) 

As you can see, the ships are here for the International Naval Review.  They are celebrating  The Royal New Zealand's Navy's 75th anniversary.

http://nznavy75.co.nz/

As I walked around the waterfront, I ran across all sorts of Officers

and crewmen, and even more officers.

Looking to my right from where the ferries tie up...

and to my left, I saw these ships.

I walked out on to the next wharf and along side ship 208 (see the picture above this one.)  I found that security was everywhere. Here are a couple of city security on Segways. 

And here are two that look like they could mean business.

This is the ship I was walking along side

And this guy was guarding the gangplank. He is dressed as if he's ready for action too, but he looks like he needs to bulk up a little for that uniform. And I was curious about what that ring thing is...

He and his ship are from India. 

Farther on, I saw some other ships with a very different look. 

It was getting late, I had stayed in town much longer than I had planned to, so I didn't walk over to find out about these last two. 

Apparently, all these war ships had been in Auckland a couple of days already, and would be staying at least through Sunday. (I saw them on Friday.) I would assume that at least some of the sailors would get shore leave during this period, and who knows what excitement they might find?  

To close out this post, I thought I might tack on a poster I found from this 1941 Musical. McKenzie, I know you're a student and fan of musicals but I don't know if you have ever ran across this ancient one. From my jaded perspective, the clips of this movie I saw on Youtube look pretty sappy. I doubt that it paints an accurate picture of today's sailors on shore leave, especially if they make it up Queen Street's mile long hill to 'K' - Road. 

I once explored a section of Karangahape Road during the morning hours before most of the businesses were open (most open after 9 a.m., way after), and felt safe enough to be doing so. However, based on some of the slumbering businesses I saw, I decided that the area was probably a little wilder after dark than I would like.  As I approached one nightclub for example, it's front door opened and a person came out of it. He stood about 6' 2", had a weight-lifters build, and had on a short-skirted nurses uniform.  He took a seat on the bench along the street and lit up a cigarette. I figured if this business was the type that needed to keep nurses on staff, especially nurses capable of bench pressing 300 lbs., then that was not a joint I wanted to hang out in. (My pace may have accellerated just a bit at this point)

I've read that the city has been working hard to encourage a 'gentrification' of K-Road and it does now have many art studios, boutiques, and trendy cafes besides its many 'nightspots', but it just doesn't call out to me in the least. I'm thinking though, that a bunch of sailors might find all sorts of interesting things to do there...  And, after they're done with touring the sights along K-Road, it's all downhill back to their ships.  And I know the City Loop buses run pretty late. I'll bet the drivers of those buses have all sorts of stories to tell about when 'The Fleet's In.'            -djf

Another hike around the Cascades

I realised something after I entitled this post, "Another hike around the Cascades."  I haven't actually done a first post about hiking around the Cascades. So, to rectify that lack, here is today's offering. I can still legitimately call it 'another' hike because this is a walk we have taken many times in the past. 

Cascade Kauri Regional Park is about a 20 minute drive from our house in the direction of Bethell Beach (Te Henga).  It's in the Waitakere Range. The walk we always take is about a kilometre and a half. On today's walk though, we added to it a bit, venturing off the usual circle, and climbed a very steep side trail. Our regular trail is a user friendly one. This new trail demonstrated another attitude I thought.  It was as much up, as forward, and I hung back a bit while the younger members of our trek team disappeared rapidly into it's foliage. 

Here are some pictures from our tramp.

Mom and the boys head off across the swinging bridge. That 20 refers to the number of people on the bridge at one time, not to a speed limit. For a short span, that bridge is very springy.

We're just barely 'out of the gate' and the trail is already climbing.

Soon, the trail tossed out any pretence of kindness to us older persons, and got down to business, I should say, up, to business. (as in, up to no good)

See what I mean about that trail? There were a whole bunch of these things. It put them end to end for a while. 

The younger ones disappeared quickly ahead, and above me. There goes Jeanne following at a more leisurely  pace. As a good camera man, I felt it was my duty to lag behind and shoot action shots of the others. My upward momentum at this point was the very definition of sedate. I might have even appeared sedated. 

While I was resting, ah, I mean, checking my camera, Amiri had already made it to the top of the trail and come back down again. He didn't report any of the light-headedness, ear popping, or altitude sickness that I had experienced during my climb. I think the rest of the family, in their mad dash up that almost vertical trail, had sucked up all the available oxygen and I, as the last in line, was breathing depleted air.  What other explanation could there be? 

And here comes the rest of the crew on Amiri's heels. (See what I mean about steep?)  I stayed ahead of them on the downward leg of the journey to insure I didn't get shortchanged on the oxygen again. I recovered quickly.

A fern tree in front of a cliff.  The rest of the crew had been up on top of it earlier. (the cliff)

Notice that as the top is unfurling, so are the individual leaves along the length of the frond.

A closer look at the leaves as they unroll

We always stop at this point in the trail. Obvious reason. 

Also, it has some comfortable roots for sitting just above ground level. I appreciated that. 

I loved looking up at this swirl... I almost felt as though I was oxygen deprived again as it rippled in the breeze...

Here's another one and from another angle as well.

We're back at the parking lot again but won't leave before we get a prize-winning grandson shot.

What doesn't show in this picture is that there is a Very stiff breeze blowing into the boys faces. It is amazing that Amiri managed to stand and not get blown off that 4 inch thick frame. In fact, he was working on standing on one foot and really challenging it. Arram got up part way and said he was lighter than Amiri and the wind would surely send him through the frame if he tried to get to his feet. He was probably right.  -djf

The Chelsea Sugar/Syrup Factory walk

The Chelsea 'Sugar Works' are located on the north side of Auckland in an area known as Birkenhead. We're here because Allie read that there is a pond, hiking trails and a park on the grounds. The Auckland Council bought that parcel of land from the company some years ago and have made available to the public. It's one apparently of Auckland's lesser known attractions. And it's free. Come along as we explore it. 

a photo from Wikipedia

The view of the factory as we arrived in the parking lot. The wind was blowing the smell of sugar and syrup to us.

Amiri is herding the resident flock of ducks toward the pond

This is the first live eel that I've seen in NZ. Later, we saw it nibbling on some bread that people were throwing into the pond for the ducks. 

Heading up one of the walkways.

At one corner of the pond on a bridge that crosses it and leads to the trail to the park above the factory.

A Mom and her boys share a moment. 

Up in the park overlooking the pond, then the lowtide mudflats, and finally the bay and city.

This was one of the 'grab' or 'clam-shell' dredgers that was used to load raw sugar in the early days. The boys are deep in a discussion of some sort with Amiri making a point. 

Auckland is a beautiful city.

We are walking from the park area back down the hill to the parking level and are passing a row of company built homes. They were originally meant for management and engineers. Now, some are subdivided and other families live in them. At one time there were 35 houses. Only this row of 6 remain. 

 Here we are on our way home, approaching Auckland. 

You can see figures walking around the top platform of the tower. They all wear coveralls and harnesses and are clipped on to a cable. If you're daring enough, you can jump off the platform and follow a cable down to a landing platform at the base. I don't know the particulars, but understand that after a few seconds of free-fall, the mechanism attached to your harness starts to slow you down and you arrive on the platform with just a gentle bump.   -djf

A steadily increasing drone, unlike the sound that modern aircraft make, filled the evening sky over Henderson. What could it be?

Out of the clear blue of the Western Sky comes ..., no, not Sky King, but the War Birds of New Zealand.  I haven't figured out yet what model of fighters these are, but I'll look it up some time. Meanwhile, we'll just admire the free show that they provided for us. The crowd that these fighters came to entertain is at Trusts Arena, about 1.5 miles from our home, but we got to watch nonetheless, and we didn't pay admission. 

Jeanne was alone upstairs in our bedroom when she heard engines coming nearer, and fast. She called me and I grabbed my camera.  There they came, circling around for their first pass over the stadium. 

I couldn't believe we were right on their flight path. 

Couldn't have had a better view, even at the stadium.

Now they're diving, and in another formation 

The sky was constantly changing. Overcast one minute and sections of blue opening up the next.

 And the four split into two pair... 

Then they recombined for another pass over ...

...and finally came back over our house to give us a last look.  I think that they were dipping their wings to us in farewell but I couldn't be sure...  

What all these pictures lack unfortunately, is the sound of the powerful engines that changed in pitch and volume as they performed.                      

Sky King opened up this post and I think it only fitting that he, and Penny, close it as well. Here is an episode that I remember very well from my youth...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoXkgIsIiQE