Wikipedia told me that Mt. Wellington is one of Auckland's 'youngest' volcanos. It erupted only 10,000 years ago.
Allie drove us up it once, shortly after we had arrived in NZ. Today, I discovered that a change has been made. The road that encircles the cone is closed to most traffic. Lack of competition with vehicles made my climb much more enjoyable than it otherwise would have been I'm sure.
The view from the top is great...Come on along.
Mt. Wellington is in Panmure, home of Martha's Backyard. I've been meaning to climb it for some time. I came down here today to stock up on Jif, Crisco, Bush's Baked Beans, and some other stuff and decided that today was the day to climb...
Someone was raising sheep here at one time. This is where they were loaded into trucks.
As I said, it's foot traffic only from here on.
This sign gives a number to call if you wish to drive people with limited mobility to the top. An access code for the gate is given over the phone.
I walked in through the gate.
This is one steep hill.
I'm on the rim of the crater now. The trail continues to my left and then crosses from left to right in the distance.
This picture shows the caldera, surrounded on three sides by the crater rim.
Downtown Auckland can be seen in the center distance.
This is the reverse, sort of, of my header picture. I took the header picture from Mt. Hobson, which is on the right, sort of behind those tall white buildings.
The hill in the center is Mt. Eden and the lower, flat-topped cone on the left is Mt. St. John.
The distances to these cones sort of ruins the perspective. They look as though they're in a line but that is deceiving.
Mt. Hobson and Mt. St. John are in the foreground and the much larger Mt. Eden, which is in the center of this picture, is quite a bit farther back.
A closer look at Auckland
And what post is complete without a look at Rangitoto?
That's the train/bus station down there. The trains are below street level here.
On my way back down.
If you look just above the center of this photo, you'll see another cone off in the distance.
If you look just above the center of this photo, you'll see another cone off in the distance.
There it is on zoom. I think that's Mangere Mountain.
I'm just above the gate again.
At the Panmure Station with the train from Manukau just pulling in.
I'll take this to Britomart and then transfer to the Western Line for my trip home.
-djf
When I first saw this post I thought I was looking at one of your posts from your volcano climbing adventures from last July and August. But on inspection of your posts back then, I see we went to Mts. Hobson and Albert and probably a few others too - but not Wellington! Well then! I like Mt. Wellington but I've noticed that so many of the mainland mounts you've shown are all covered mostly in grass while Rangitoto is in trees. I wonder if the grazing sheep had something to do with changing the flora on them.
ReplyDeleteAt any rate regardless of the mount coverings, I like the spectacular views you're showing us! Thanks for your being a most excellent guide!
Yes, this is a new mount for this post. I had not shown it to you before. And it's a young one. Only about 10,000 years since it erupted.
ReplyDeleteOf course, you know that Rangitoto is just a baby as volcanoes go, it's only about 650 years old.
Man, that hill looks more challenging than "puke hill" near us. Good for you for climbing it. What a gorgeous view of Auckland and the surrounding areas. McKenzie
ReplyDeleteWell, I just shifted to my very lowest gear...Lots of power, very little speed...and made it up just fine.
ReplyDelete