A return to Remuera and a visit to Mt. Hobson.

I am starting this post the same way I started my first Remuera post, that is, with a look at the morning as I make my way over to the Sturges Road Train Platform.  When I started this blog, I hoped to give you a sense of what it is like to live here, and I want to continue to do that. I don't want to give you just the best pictures of the day's adventure. I want to also give you a few shots that might help set the scene. Or maybe a few shots of what you would see, if you were walking next to me on our way to the main attraction. That's why I include some pictures of everyday life. Like these first ones. 

 Sturges Road at 8:50 a.m. 

 Walking up the exit ramp at Remuera as the train departs. 

 The train platform here borders the Southern Roadway. 

 Another view of the Southern Roadway.

 I've discovered that Remuera has a lot of fine old houses all over the place. 

 This is one of the entrances to the Mt. Hobson cone. 

This is the very nice sign that greets visitors to the area. It shows the map and gives lots of information, some of which shocked me. The surprise came from one of those paragraphs that you see just to the right of the map, and just under the no-fires sign. It says:

Maori History

The mountain was most commonly called “Remuera” meaning “burnt edge”, referring to the incident when a young chieftainess, one of a party of visitors from Wharekawa, was murdered (probably near where the old Dilworth homestead now stands). Her dressed body was cooked in an oven. The “remu” or edge of the skirt was scorched, hence the name Remuera.

Even today, as I write this, I am somewhat taken aback. I knew that cannabalism had been practiced in New Zealand in the past, but this description of an actual event makes it much more 'present' to me. Good grief. This little town is named after an overdone roasted princess. This sign makes cannibalism a little too real for my taste. (no pun intended) 

It's one thing to read Voltaire. It was in his satire, Candide, that Cunegonde was devoured at one point, but only by Candide's eyes, and just one buttocks from the old woman was eaten.
It's one thing to write (with) tongue in cheek, but it's a different matter when when you mean it literally. Yipes. 

The oven that was mentioned I'm pretty sure was a hangi, or hole-in-the-ground oven, heated with hot rocks. I've never read that Maori had clay ovens, anyway. 

This sign also made me wonder if there are any other towns with such unique meanings. I searched from a site that listed 1,000 names and their meanings and found only Ihumatao, which means cold nose, (I assume this means like a healthy dog's and not left-over parts from dinner) and Kaitangata, which means man-eater. (specific, but nowhere near as graphic as scorched 'skirt')  I noticed however, that Remuera was not on this list so I clearly didn't see all of the place names that exist. 

Enough of that, let's continue. 

This path is longer than the Mt. St. John climb is, but it has only about half as many steps. I like an inclined plane better than steps. Easier on us old folks. I look forward to showing it to Jeanne once her knee is cooperating again. 

 The path rises gently here.

 How did they know I like benches?

 I'm getting higher up now.

 And the path gets steeper. We're almost up...

Just about at the top and downtown Auckland comes into view. 

 When I got to the top, I turned and saw this.  That's Rangitoto rising out of both the sea and clouds.

 I wonder what that is?  

 I'm passing two small side vents or whatever they're called.

I'm at the top. That is a "Trig Station." It is a survey mark that serves as a physical reference point for NZ's Geodetic System. 

My adventure on top of Mt. Hobson continues with my next post....               -djf

I got to thinking about left-overs for some unknown reason. Here is one of my favorite comments about them.  

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