Mt. Roskill

HAPPY NEW YEAR, everyone!   

If you are a follower of my blog, you'll know that I've done a number of posts about Auckland's many volcanic cones. This post is about the latest one I climbed, Mt. Roskill. I did so on August 10, 2021.  

As I started working on this post, I got to thinking about how many I might now have climbed. It turns out that Mt. Roskill is my 13th. To make sure that I didn't forget any, I looked up a list of cones, and realized that there are two that I hadn't thought of as volcanic in origin. I've been on them a number of times however without realizing their origin. I have noted these on my 'been there, done that, list of Auckland's volcanos just below. English and Maori names. These are listed in no particular order.     

North Head                            Maungauika 

Auckland Domain                  Pukekawa              (I hadn't realized was this was a volcano) 

One Tree Hill                         Maungakiekie

Mt. Eden                                Maungawhau

Mt. Albert                               Owairaka

Big King                                 Te Tatua a Riukiuta

Rangitoto                               Rangitoto

Mt. St. John                           Te Kopuke

Mt. Hobson                            Ohinerau

Mt. Wellington                        Maungarei

Albert Park Volcano                                        (In downtown Auckland, a surprise to me)

Mt. Victoria                             Takarunga

Mt. Roskill                              Puketapapa 

It was a gorgeous day when I climbed Mt. Roskill, but a little chilly.  I wore a wind-breaker and was glad of it.  I had been down this way only once on a bus and I didn't have a clear picture in my mind of exactly where Mt. Roskill was located. I should certainly have looked it up before I came, but I didn't, and that meant that I got off the bus too early. I probably walked nearly a mile more than I needed to, but that was okay. I walked past some really interesting markets. Middle Eastern, Asian, and Island stores that were no doubt chock full of amazing foodstuffs. I'll probably go back some time there just to investigate some of the places I passed. And, as it happened, I also passed a Burgerfuel so I bought some lunch for later.  

So, here are my pictures. I hope you enjoy them. 

I've zoomed quite a bit already in this picture, looking west. Can you see the lighthouse?

There it is. That's the Manukau Heads Lighthouse. Believe it or not, that is over 22 kilometers (13.5 miles) from Mt. Roskill. (according to Google Maps) 

The Sky Tower is only 7.5 kilometers away.  That's Mt. Eden to the right of the city and in the distance, to the right of Mt. Eden, you can just see Rangitoto.  

I have turned on the 'Zeke' filter for this shot. Because of the position of the sun when I snapped this, I didn't get the detail I would have liked. This filter allows us to see some of that detail.   

Here is a much better look at Mt. Eden and Rangitoto.  

In producing this post today, I have been showing you pictures, and then the enhanced (zoomed in) versions of them. I might as well continue that routine and end with this close up view of Rangitoto

End, that is, except for lunch. I found a comfy bench, and, since the wind had died a bit, took off my jacket and basked while I ate.  

They really do a nice job on this little burger. I also like the burger I'm showing you below, but it's a bit too much burger for me to eat for lunch. That's definitely a dinner-sized burger.  

Well, that's it for today. My thanks go out to all of you who will see this.  Your interest is what keeps me taking pictures and producing this post. I've had 51,023 views of my blog to date.            -djf