GG's post

Hello everyone.  I am doing a special post this week in honor of a special person. Her name is GG and she is my grandniece. We have corresponded several times and she is interested in pictures of New Zealand.  

I was very impressed GG, that you emailed a comment to me about my last post. So, I thought I'd do something out of the ordinary to show my appreciation.  This post and these pictures are especially for you.  I hope you enjoy them.  I took these pictures over a period of several years and in many different places.  These are a few of my favorite pictures.  

This is Army Bay Beach.  There were lots of seagulls there that day.  Whenever I hear seagulls crying, I imagine that they are saying goodbye before flying to far away places. 

Look at how beautiful they are in flight.  This particular gull is a red-billed gull in English or an akiaki in Maori.  

That is a volcano called Rangitoto that erupted from under the ocean about 650 years ago. It shot so much lava out of it that it piled up, cooled off, and turned into the island that you see now. Rangitoto is just off shore from Auckland.  We have taken a ferry boat out to it and climbed to the top a couple of times.  

Once, some older boys wanted to play a joke on everybody in Auckland.  They snuck out to Rangitoto and lit a huge, smokey fire in the cone on top of the volcano.  Lots of people saw the smoke and thought that Rangitoto might be getting ready to erupt again.  They became very worried. The boys thought it was pretty funny until they got caught.  I don't know what happened to them, but they never tried a stunt like that again.  

Here is a video about two volcanos.  Maybe you've seen it before, but it's one of my favorites, so I hope you don't mind seeing it again.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh4dTLJ9q9o&list=RDuh4dTLJ9q9o&start_radio=1

We live in Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand, and it has many parks in it. I found this tree in one of them.  This one has a sort of cave it it's trunk, that is big enough for you, GG, to climb into.  

This is Bethells Beach if you're speaking English, or Te Henga if you're speaking Maori.  Jeanne is walking along it. 

Here, Jeanne has walked into a large cave on O'Neill's Beach.  You can see a little hole in the back of the cave that she can climb out through, if she gets down on her hands and knees, that is.  Did you notice that the sand here is black?  That's because this sand is made from lava.  

Here I am standing outside another cave at Te Henga.  There are two openings to this cave.  They meet way back inside the hill.  I went into the big side on the right and came out the small side.  I had to wade through a shallow river to get to and from this cave.  The water was only up to the top of my ankles.  It's not a dangerous cave but it was very exciting to walk through it.  

This is a picture of Auckland in the distance.  We are standing on the top of North Head, which was also a volcano, but one that erupted many, many ages ago.  To get here, we took a ride on a ferry to cross over Auckland's harbor.  Then we had to climb 160 feet to the top of North Head.  As volcanic cones go, it is a very small one.  

The next thing I'll show you, GG, is a video about gannets.  They are large seabirds that make their nests on the cliffs at Muriwai Beach.  We have climbed up to an observation platform.  It is windy here, the birds are very noisy and to tell the truth, they smell terrible. But it's gorgeous, in a wild sort of way, don't you think?  I almost feel like a bird myself, being up so high and seeing birds flying below me.  

https://1drv.ms/v/s!AhxhBoOUszlJ00Pru5JKfSE16qG7?e=qoKQ3M

A gannet sitting its nest.  (Its nest is really just a place on the rock. They're not very good homemakers.)  

Here is another video of a pair of gannets.  In this one, you'll see them greet each other when one comes home from fishing, and also see why they are so smelly. (They poop all over the place.)

https://1drv.ms/v/s!AhxhBoOUszlJgZNadZGNU1TKhTiMDw?e=tQp52D

Finally, I have several last pictures for you.  This first was taken while we were on a whale and dolphin watching boat.  We were a couple of miles out to sea when this happened.  

It was right next to me.  I felt as though I could almost touch it. 

And then, not much later, a fin whale went by at the same moment that another dolphin jumped completely out of the water.  

Do you see some mist in the air over the whale?  That's because when it's blowhole came out of the water, it blew a lung full of old air out of its lungs and breathed in a giant breath of fresh air before its head went under water again.  I'll show you some more pictures of that. 

Here are some more pictures of the same whale. Our boat turned and followed it for a while and I was able to get more photos. It's swimming away from us. 

This is what happens when the whale exhales, or breathes out.  Its breath comes out in a huge whoosh!  

Do you see that bump, sort of in front, on top of the whale?  That's its blowhole, sort of a nose but on top of its head.  It's breathing fresh air in now while it's out of the water.  

And now, its head is under water again. It's holding its breath and you can see its back and the fin on the top of its back.  

That's just the middle of its back you can see.  An average adult male fin whale is 70 feet long and weights 45 tons.  Do you think 70 feet is big?  I'd say so.  Just think, most school buses are about 42 feet long. Next time you see a school bus, think of a much longer fin whale sitting next to it.    

I enjoyed all the memories that seeing these pictures provided, and I hope you enjoyed having your very own post, GG.  Your special post is number 589.  

I lava you.    -djf