Te Atatu Peninsula and mangrove mudflats

Today's post takes you to the Te Atatu Peninsula. That is about 10 minutes away from Henderson. It lies to the north of us and makes up the south western side of Waitemata Harbour. (Auckland's harbour)

A note here before we go on. My computer is a Kiwi. Allie bought it for me here and if I don't use the Kiwi spelling of some words, like harbour with that extra u, it pastes yellow boxes on the offending words and generally makes a fuss. You've no doubt already noticed that lots of words look odd to you, that's why. 

I have the feeling that folks who live on the peninsula think that they are pretty lucky. It feels a little hoity-toity out there. I'll bet that home prices are higher there than they are for comparable homes where we live, the Western Heights. I don't quite know why that is.  

It sure isn't because of their fantastic beaches. I've talked a lot about Piha, and Muriwai, Bethells and O'Neils, and Whatipu. Those beaches will take your breath away.  Te Atatu's beaches might sometimes arrest your breathing as well, but that's because the mangrove mud flats that make up Te Atatu's beachs are a, let's see, how to put this, a unique ecosystem, and a producer of, ah, unique smells. 

But it's an interesting place. I was excited to realize when I first saw them, that the low, bush sized trees that grow there were actually mangroves, just like the tropics have, but since they are growing at the very southern edge of the latitude at which it is possible for them to grow, they are stunted. 

The mudflats are home to all sorts of shellfish, and crabs, and who knows what else, all going about the business of living and dying and decaying. 

We just stopped by there the other day, wondering if there was any sea weed for our compost pile. Turned out there was not. 

Nevermind, the boys enjoyed playing on the playground there and I wandered around and snapped a couple of pictures.  Take a look. It is at extreme low tide.

In the background of course is Auckland and the Auckland Harbour Bridge.  Those things sticking up out of the mud in the foreground  are pneumatophores, or aerial roots. A mangrove is an amazing plant once you get to know it. The only trouble is that hanging out with it as you do become better acquainted, is not so pleasant. 

A close up.

The boys had a great time. They had the place to themselves. 

Just a cool looking bit of driftwood

How's that for a stump?

Along the edge of the boardwalk

The boys adopt tough-guy poses.  -djf

Our Summerland Primary School Gala

The gala is a yearly fund-raiser for the school that is eagerly anticipated and does very well. There is a silent auction, giant rummage sale, rides, food booths and games. It is almost impossible to go to it and not walk out a couple of $20's lighter in the wallet. If you're with a 6 and 8 year old, you'll probably be fleeced even more completely. Well worth it, I assure you. Here are some pictures I took during Friday night's fun.

The bake-sale booth. Those are donated cakes, etc., so they're going to make a fortune. 

Sausages, in my opinion, leave a lot to be desired. They're popular though. This was taken very early in the gala. Later this guy needed three hands, and an assistant.  

Jeanne and I opted to start with  mussel fritters. Lots of chopped mussels, onion and an egg batter with a little flour in it are fried and placed on a piece of white bread. Not a bad item for $4.00

Here is our 2nd course. This was purchased in a tent labeled 'Mystery Kai.'  Kai is 'food' in Maori. It turned out to be 'Chili Mussel Curry."  At $7.00, it was a pretty good deal since there was enough there for both of us to have plenty. It was loaded with whole mussels, cooked in coconut milk. It was not spicey at all.
The chef, recognizing my accent as American, came over to ask if we were tourists and if we liked her creation. We told her we were residents and that we loved her kai. She agreed to allow me to take this picture.

I should have worked harder and taken a better picture of one of the really popular items at the gala. This is a pineapple sundae.
They take a fresh pineapple, cut it in half, and then hollow out each end. They then refill each 'cup' with chopped pinapple, ice cream, whipped cream and your choice of toppings. All that for $5.00.  Amiri couldn't finish his, much as he loved it, and gave the rest to Jeanne and I. We had plenty too.  

One of the blow up attractions. The kids would jump from the top.

More fun and a great money maker. A ride of about 3 minutes was $4.00.  

This is the kapa-haka team performing. 

This area is a newly installed play and sports area known as the 'turf.' 

Here, Amiri has met a couple of friends from his class and is visiting with them on the turf. 

In past years, Arram has found the gala to be a bit much. It was so very loud and crowded and he was so little. He has been overwhelmed. This year, he enjoyed himself immensely and came home listing all the friends he had seen. 

Amiri is in his element in the excitement, especially this year. Allie gave him a little more freedom this time, to circulate without Mum hanging on to him.  With three adults available for watching from nearby though, he circulated with security.      -djf

Sports Day

Every year, towards the end of the 4th term, all the kids are bussed to the local sports arena, where games are held. Not long ago, we attended the competition and as usual, thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

In the past, when both boys were younger, the games took place only in the morning and were done by noon. Now that Amiri is year 4, his games extended a bit longer. So we brought along lunches and made a day of it. 

Some of Arram's events were on our side of the field, but Amiri's for the most part were at such a distance that taking pictures didn't show much detail, like which kid was him. That's always a drawback!

Still, maybe you can get a feel for the event from the shots I do have. It's meant to be a fun day, where  trying hard is more important than winning, although certificates are given for the top finishers of each event and in each age group. 

Arram had a special thrill. For the first time, he won 1st place in the 6 year old boys' vortex throw. The vortex is made of dense foam and looks like a cross between a javelin and a rocket ship. 

Enjoy the pictures. 

This is the Trusts Arena. The stands and track are behind it and to the right. 

We give blood regularly on the second floor. 

This is the end view of the building. We're on our way over to the covered stands.

We got to the stands fairly early. Not many kids here yet. We're only about two miles from Summerland so when the busses start arriving, it fills up quickly.

We spotted Amiri and he spotted us, shortly after his class arrived.  

Amiri looks confident and relaxed here, as he waits for his group to be called for another event. 

Arram is finishing his 60 yard sprint. This shot makes it look like he came in first, but there were others just ahead. He was disappointed not to have won this race but his vortex win brightened his day again.

There are approximately 680 kids in Summerland Primary so it's not easy to be number one, even just among the 6 year old boys. 

As I said, many of the events were at quite a distance from the stands. Here, I walked down to the the end of the stands to take this shot of Amiri and zoomed in. That's a shot put he has just hoisted. 

As usual, I was impressed with how organized each event was. They had enough volunteers to insure that the age groups stayed together and moved efficiently from event to event. There was time given of course for morning tea and for lunch. There was even time for the youngest competitors to take a 1/2 hour off and play on the very complete playground that is available on the far side of the running track. 

For the benefit of both the kids and the parents watching from the stands, an announcer boomed out instructions, information and results as the day progressed. 

All the kids made it back to school with about 10 minutes to spare before the bell rang, ending another day at Summerland.            -djf

When does a pond become a Lake?

During the winter months, our area is deluged with rain. We're classed as a temporate rain forest, so you know that it must come down in buckets at times. 

In order to handle all the run off, stormwater ponds can be found all over the Auckland area. As the sign below attests, this prevents contaminants from damaging the streams and beaches.  

The photos that follow in this post are of Paremuka Lake and the park surrounding it. Now, I've just looked up the difference between a pond and a lake, and because vegetation grows all across Paremuka, it is more correct to call it a pond than a lake. To be honest, I think the Lake designation might have come about because of the fondness of real estate agents who have described the homes nearest the pond as offering "Lakeside living." Bit of a stretch in my opinion. 'Caveat Emptor.'

Whatever you want to call it, it does do a very necessary task and is quite beautiful besides. When I first got here I was overcome with the variety of palms and other vegetation along its course. 

Take a look.

Cool looking dude (geezer) taking the photo huh?

This is the inlet pipe 

This is looking upstream from about the center of the park surrounding the 'Lake.'  In the upper left corner of this picture, is a field, where Summerland Primary holds it's cross country races. Here is a shot of Amiri after finishing the race in 2014

Don't know what he is saying but he sure looks cool.

Here is another view of the inlet pipe. The nearest upstream settling pond is at Shiraz Park. about 600 metres away, as the fan-tail flies.  That pipe delivering the water is about 6 feet in diameter.  'When it rains, it pours.'

This is looking downstream in the park. This is the main body of the 'lake.'

A piece of art adorns one side, but has fallen into disrepair.

There are carp in the water, and ducks of course. We call this lake the 'duckpond' when we're talking about it and we used to feed the ducks, pukekos and seagulls fairly often. The boys have lost interest in that now. 

This is a 2014 photo of Arram and lake side residents.

This is at the lower end, or outflow, about 800 yards from the beginning of this section of two ponds.

To the right of this foot bridge is about 100 yards of swamy area, and then the water disappears below ground to be carried downstream to further settling  ponds. 

There goes the water.

This pukeko, who calls the pond edge home, has an itchy beak.

Ahh, that's better. Now back to the business of finding lunch. -djf

A new flag for New Zealand?

New Zealand is considering changing it's flag. This is the current flag.

The Union Jack in the corner represents NZ's bond with Great Britain. Since 1973, some people have been pushing to change the flag and now, the people of NZ will be voting.  

The five choices you see below have been selected from hundreds of designs. Voting by mail is going on now to select one design from among these five. Early next year, the voters will then be asked if they prefer the new flag or the old one, and a choice will be made.  

These are the finalists.                   -djf

'Cabbages & Kings' "The time has come," the Walus said, "To talk of many things." And among them, in this post, is a beer.

Most days, grocery shopping is a requirement for us. If we took Allie's car, we could stock up much easier, but since we want to walk in order to keep our joints flexible, and our waistlines minimised, the most we can bring home each day is what I can fit in my trolley and Jeanne in her backpack. Today was one of those rare days, when nothing at all was required from Pac N Save.  So what did I do? Went shopping of course.  

This time though, I walked away from downtown Henderson. I went to Blanc, an interesting wine, beer and liquor shop on Lincoln Avenue toward the motorway.

I have started once again, to look for a genuine Absinthe. The world today seems to be full of born-again brands of absinthe, most claiming to faithfully recreate some recipe from the early 1900's. The truth is though, that true absinthe, with a measurable amount of thujone, the special ingredient found in wormwood, Artemisia absinthium, seem to be pretty rare. I've been doing some research and I have a list in my wallet of about 15 of them that would be worth finding.  

Blanc had two brands on the top shelf, but neither was the real thing. To compensate for my disappointment, I went over to their beer cooler and starting studying the assortment of brews. Like in America, micro-breweries are all over the place here. This is the beer I chose to take home.

I think that labels are important. They need to make you pick up the bottle. I eventurally bought this one because it caught my attention from about 100 others on the shelves.

Once the label hooks you, it's up to the smaller print to reel you in. Hmm, let's see here... Stout, I know about that, but Oyster and Horopito? Huh?  You don't mean they put oysters in this?  Oh, maybe they mean this is a good accompaniment to oysters. 

More or less willing assistance? In the poem, The Walus and the Carpenter, by Lewis Carroll, the oysters were all eaten. Maybe it means the staff ate oysters as they worked on this batch? But no, other ingredients are listed that clearly were used to make this stuff.  Do you suppose?

Yes! It's true, and there's the proof. "Warning- Contains shellfish."
So, I'm going to try a beer that was made with 120 oysters? And look back at that alcohol content- 12 %. That's a strong wine content, not a beer.  I agree that they are pushing boundaries

Well, I walked 3.57 miles to buy this oddity and am going to give it a try. Jeanne and I pulled up our chairs on the deck and I poured...

It was a very heavy stout and much more bitter than other stouts I've tasted. This bitterness tended to linger in the back of my mouth. Thankfully, there was no hint of shellfish. 

The alcoholic content was a drawback.  It was more powerful than a beer ought to be I think. We like Lion Red Beer, in part because it has a reduced alcohol content of 4%.

The bottom line is that Jeanne didn't like it much and although I thought it was 'interesting,' I wouldn't buy another bottle. The main enjoyment I derived from tasting it was in considering it's unique ingredients. And the label. I liked that.  

Oh, and what about the horopito?  I found that Te Ara, the New Zealand Encyclopedia, says that the "Horopito, or mountain pepper tree (Pseudowintera colorata), is found in wet upland forests throughout many of New Zealand’s mountains. It is one of New Zealand’s most unpalatable plants, as its leaves contain a chemical that leaves a peppery taste and burning sensation when chewed."

Wow, the brew master at Garage Project really must enjoy taking chances with his recipes, but I didn't taste any pepper or feel any burn whatever. I'm glad he didn't over do it.

And I wonder, could this traditional facial gesture actually owe its origination to the horopito pepper tree? Maori warriers were said to be among the fiercest in the world. Maybe now we know why.     -djf