June 24, 2021, at 7:30 a.m.

Winter has started, officially. In our southern hemisphere, the seasons are reversed of course from those in the northern. Jeanne pointed out to me as I typed this, that June 24 here corresponds with December 24th back home. 

This post is a very brief look at what I saw this morning. This picture was taken at 7:27 a.m. The following shots soon after that.    

Jeanne's phone reported that the temperature outside was 0.6 C.  That gave us frost for the first time this year. You can see it on this wide view of the canopy area. 

It may not be really clear to you that it is frost, but compare this picture with the next.  

It didn't take long and the frost was being driven away by the rising sun.  

That's most of what I have for you today. 

These last two shots look to me like they were taken on a deep dive, next to an underwater cliff, looking up through waving fronds of seaweed toward the surface. 

In reality, they were taken at 9:43 p.m in our African Garden. We had a heavy overcast, and it was almost misting.  I'm standing beneath a black tree fern.  

I had walked past this point on my nightly stroll, and the moon, just visible above the fronds, intrigued me. I returned to our apartment get my camera. I took eight shots at various settings and liked these two for their 'otherworldly' feeling.     

I call these two, Returning to the Surface.                       -djf

--Remembering also that 6/24 was Mom's birthday.  Always thinking of you Mom.  

Got a new toy? Well, play with it then.

A few months ago, I bought a new toy. A Nikon camera. Since that time, I've been slowly learning to use it. This camera has a bunch of settings and I have so far, only begun to understand exactly what they all do. 

Oh, I do know for example that a certain knob adjusts the shutter speed. That's all well and good, but what I don't know is how changing the shutter speed will affect the look of the picture I take. I've got to experiment a bit more.  

This post will share with you some of the pictures I've taken of the moon. You will probably notice that they are not all (or even any) what you might expect. They are the results of my experiments in knob twisting...

Taking pictures at night is a real challenge, especially when I have one extremely bright source in the middle of the darkness. I have not yet perfected my technique. You'll see that in these photos. 

Nevertheless, I do rather like what I got. As I reviewed what I recorded, my usual comments ran something like, "Whoa, that's kind of weird, and geez, so is that one, and oof, I think I'll delete that one altogether. No amount of editing will improve that."  

Take a look and don't say I didn't warn you...

This is one of my favorites. I see it as the cover illustration on a Sci-fi story about the moon crashing into the earth.  

Another night...
  

 

Look how in this shot, the moon seems to have stripped the branches from these trees. You'll see that the foliage is back in the next photo.

Clouds complicate matters sometimes.  

In this one, the moon came out blindingly bright.  I thought later that if I had increased the shutter speed, I might have improved it, but I only get one chance when I'm taking these. The moon rises so fast as this magnification that if I fiddled with the settings, I'd lose the tree/moon contact shots.  

I love the craters along the edge.  

I'll keep trying, I'm having fun.     -djf

Climbing the Big King

 

Today's adventure takes us southeast of Mt. Albert to the Auckland suburb of Three Kings.  

I had spotted the name on maps in the past and had been intrigued. The name Three Kings undoubtedly refers to the three wise men who came bearing gifts for the Christ Child. I also supposed that the name must refer to three volcanic cones in the area. Three of the fifty-some in the Auckland area.   

I found that there is a peak right in town that is called Big King. I definitely want to do some climbing.  

Come with me now as I explore... 

As I stepped off the bus and started looking around town, it appeared that every business in the place is named 'Three Kings this, or Three Kings that.  They must be proud of their town and rightfully so. It seemed nice there.  

But I was here to climb the Big King.  There he is, over there beyond the Countdown.  

As volcanic cones go around here, the Big King is not all that big.  He's listed at 436 feet, which turned out to be plenty tall enough for me. 

I discovered that the two main trails to the top, and which showed very clearly on the map that I checked before I left home, were closed for improvements. The map didn't tell me that. I ended up walking all the way around to the far side of the thing before I managed to climb it. I had water, a banana and a granola bar with me so I really didn't suffer too much. But I'm an overweight (slightly) 69 year old, and this jaunt pushed me a little closer to the threshold of 'too much' than I liked.   

I did enjoy the view from the top and I learned a thing or two about the Big King, or Te-Tatua-a Riukiuta, as the Maori call him. 

Although the day turned out fairly sunny later in the day, when I was on the summit, I had spitting rain for a time to contend with. I stayed on the downwind side of the water reservoir that dominates the peak. Let me show you some pictures.  

This is the second trail entrance that I passed while looking for ways to the top. The first one was fenced off, so that was clearly not an option. This one sure looked open to me.  I climbed about 50 meters of very steep trail before I found the fence closing it off.  Hmmpf!   

Worked even better than an umbrella. 

The rain has passed my hill top. Safe to take the camera out again. 

I like zooming in on the Sky Tower in case there are people walking the outside ring or doing the jump.  

As I walked around, I came across this collapsed area.

In reading about Three Kings, I learned that the last eruption happened about 28,500 years ago and that lava tubes that originate here, carry water underground toward Western Springs several miles away.  This I think, might be surface evidence of one of those lava tubes. I have seen similar looking places on other cones, and one had a sign identifying it as such.

I think that dot on the hillside, left of center, might be a bug or bit of dirt on my lens. 

You may be wondering at this point the same thing I was wondering after riding the bus down to Three Kings and finding only Big King to climb. Namely, why is there only one King to climb?  

Well, I learned that there were indeed two additional Kings formed by the eruption I mentioned earlier. They were called East King and Highest King by the residents. Highest King was only two meters taller than Big King.  There were also a number of smaller cones sticking up here and there. Unfortunately for us, East King, Highest King and all the smaller ones were quarried out of existence. The picture below shows a corner of today's quarry. They are still taking scoria out of it. 

I have an early photo of the area toward the bottom of this post and a little more information  about scoria for you. 

Before I leave the top, I have one more picture.  This is the most famous of Auckland's volcanoes, and the youngest. It arose from an undersea eruption only about 600 years ago. 

Rangitoto.   

I'm on my way back down now. 

"I'm glad you survived, Big King."              

__________________________________________________________________________________

So then, what's the story, ah, on scoria? 

Scoria is:

noun

1. 1.

   basaltic lava ejected as fragments from a volcano, typically with a frothy texture.

   "chunks of black scoria"

The photo below shows another of the Three Kings, as it was being carried off. 

photo from Wikipedia  

So what is scoria used for? Here are two examples.  

Natural Volcanic BBQ Lava Rock - 2KG Bag

Volcanic Rock is ideal to place on a rack above the burners and beneath the grill on your BBQ.

This rock will keep the heat in the area to provide more heat for cooking. Fats and oils drop on to the hot rock and vaporsises, flavouring the food. The ideal coverage is 60% - 70% of surface area.

During use, the lava rock absorbs food fats & juices. When the absorbed fat becomes excessive the lave rock will need to be replaced

Vocanic Rock also suitable for use in Gas Fireplaces and Braziers.

Scoria is widely used in landscaping...

Scoria 50/20

50/20 Scoria is a clean drainage scoria commonly used behind retaining walls. The aggregate range is 50mm down to 20mm

I think that possibly because of all the volcanoes in NZ, I have especially enjoyed watching video from Iceland's current eruption. I do worry though about how many people are right up against the flow. I think back to our White Island catastrophe and pray that something similar doesn't happen in Iceland.  

I don't know if you've been watching it, but here's a link in case you want to check it out. It is constantly changing of course, but this short segment is amazing.  Be patient. It takes about a minute and a half before the action starts.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyvNcZAD_5s

Here's a new one.    -djf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z24hQfzQ4CQ

Rainy day

Most of the posts on my blog show me going somewhere.  I usually walk at least an hour or two every day and in the course of these walks, (with the help of free buses and trains for seniors) I've explored all over the western Auckland area. I intend to continue to expand my searches into the northern, eastern and southern areas.  I've hardly started the job of 'discovering' Auckland after all. 

But there are some days when exploring just doesn't work out. Rainy sorts of days. We have one of those going on right now. It's chilly, rain is almost constant, and the wind, if I was out  in it, would make me wish I wasn't. 

So, what's a person supposed to do on such a day? Sitting around all day doing nothing would make me jumpy. 

Fortunately, there is a solution. This place is big enough that I can have a terrific walk indoors.  Let me show you some of the places I could go.  

This first picture was taken at the far end of our Atrium. (Our apartment is most of the way down this corridor and on the right.) 

I've now walked the length of the Atrium corridor and am at the lounge at the opposite end. (I have often come here to read.)  

In this picture, and the next, you'll see the sets of buildings I can walk through. Starting on the left we have The Mews, then comes The Ferns in the middle, 

and finally, The Rose Court, the building with the red stairwell area on the end.  I walked the entire way this morning, from the far end of our Atrium to the red striped stairwell in The Rose Court, counting my steps as I went. I counted 320.   

Then, I can turn around and retrace my steps on our 2nd floor or go up or down to other floors. 

Today, I went down to the first, repeated my trek to the far end of the Atrium, and then descended those steps to the ground floor. Round and round, up and down, for as long as I want to walk. 

Then, maybe a nice cuppa. 

Nothing like a free cup of coffee, tea or chocolate after a hike on a cold day. Yes, it's instant, but it's surprisingly good. 

Now let me show you some places we can go to rest up after our hike. 

This covered balcony is a place where Jeanne and I have shared a cup many times.  It's got a fine view of the garden. Let's look at some other places out of the rain. 

This is outside the cafe on the eastern side

And this is on the northern side of the cafe.  Looking toward the new Pak'nSave,

and looking toward the circle drive. 

In the lobby

In the cafe

The library

Near the African Garden

A small pavilion in the African Garden.

Nice and dry in here, even today. 

One of the residents brought down a basket of scones this morning, made with cheese and chillies.  Notice all the cups of coffee on the table. This is located on the ground floor in the Atrium and is a popular gathering place every morning. I ought to do a couple of batches of my applesauce raisin cornmeal muffins sometime. 

Finally today, we have a sausage party to help warm us. You get two sausages for $2.  It happens to be the Queen's birthday today, but that's not why we're having the sausages. We have a sizzle about once a month regardless.  

Well, I know that I walked at least an hour today so far. I went up and down many sets of stairs. After dinner tonight, I plan to walk once again. (update: I did another 45 minutes)

Sometime between 9 - 9:30 p.m, they turn down the lights in the Atrium to a more restful level. I find it especially pleasant to walk then. On clear nights I can look up through the skylights in the Atrium and see the moon and maybe one or two of the brighter stars. I won't get that chance tonight, but it'll be nice anyway.  

I hope that you've enjoyed following me around on this wet day. It sounds like tomorrow might bring more of the same. If so, I'll be ready.                            -djf