A volcano closer to home, Mt. Albert

Are you getting tired of volcanic cones yet?  Gee, I hope not.  Let's see, I've done Mt. St. John, and Mt. Hobson (in two parts) so far. That leaves 51 more to go!
Today's offering to you (What a switch, I'm offering a volcano to you. As you learned from my comments about Joe, of movie fame, generally it's done the other way around.) is Mt. Albert. This is the volcano in Auckland's field that is closest to our home in Henderson. Mt Albert is also one of the stops on the Western Train Line. It was also a Pa, although the evidence that it was has been mostly destroyed. The very top of Mt. Albert was removed over a period of years. It's rocks were used in a multitude of building projects and even for ballast in ships. 
I read an interesting story about this Pa. It seems that this volcano, as it cooled and settled after the eruption, developed a tunnel. This is fairly common in this kind of volcano. (Rangitoto has some impressive ones.) This particular cave ran from near the top to a spot at the very bottom of the cone. The Maoris that lived on this Pa knew about the tunnel of course. The story goes that once, when they were attacked by a strong neighbouring tribe, the people escaped through the tunnel, all except the chief, who was too large to fit through its narrowest spot. 

The story ended there. It did not go on to say that the chief fed the attackers that day, but from what I learned at Mt. Hobson, I wouldn't doubt it.

I had hoped that there would still be evidence of the tunnel and climbed the hill with high hopes. Unfortunately, I couldn't find one. I asked two different groups of people I met on the top of the mount if they knew of any tunnel. None of them did.

I think that the rock quarrying they did probably destroyed the thing, if it ever was really there.

So, let's go. You're lucky. This was a big hill to climb. Every step I took after leaving the train was up hill. You get to lean back and click to climb. Enjoy...

 I'm sitting on a bench in the downtown area, sipping on this explorer's favorite beverage, chocolate milk.  Well, maybe not my very favorite one, but it's 11:00 a.m. What do you expect?

The moss growing on this wet sidewalk looked so vibrant, I wanted to show it to you. Doesn't show up in the photo quite as nicely as I would have hoped, but...

I've noticed at all the volcanic sites I've visited so far, that there are very nice homes on the slopes. 

Here is another nice home. This shot shows the slope of the hill too. The top of the cone is in the background. 

Finally at the gate.

This is an area just above the gate. It's one of the areas where rock was removed. It's now a soccer field. 

This is an archery course. 

 I'm heading up the road to the top

 You've seen one of these markers on Mt. Hobson. 

This sign is not in very good shape, but it does show the amount of rock removed. 

Just to the right of the centre of the picture, you can see a whitish building with a tower crane sticking up above it. (No, that's not Jeff. He's in Newmarket.**) That is in Glen Eden. Those are the Waitakeres in the background. We live off to the right of that building and about as far away again as Glen Eden is from Mt. Albert. 

** In this post: https://fostersoe.blogspot.com/2018/12/some-gum-to-play-with-but-not-for-eat.html

I was surprised that I could see all the way to Manukau Harbor. 

 I've turned around now almost 180 degrees and can see Waitemata Harbor. I think you can see that it's low tide. 

 A nice picnic spot

 It's hard to see the structure in this picture, but this is one of the few remaining terraced areas on this Pa. 

 I'm walking back down to the train now and pass this dry, stacked-stone wall.  

Hey, look at this bench. It's terraced too!

Well, I told you early in this adventure, that I was unsuccessful in finding the Mt. Albert tunnel that led the Maoris to safety so long ago. That is true. I was disappointed. 

However, I was mollified to some degree as I noted that Mt. Albert is not today totally bereft of tunnels. The next two photos show you the very efficient, and -wide- tunnel that gives access to the train station. Even a plus-sized chief could negotiate this tunnel with ease.      

Attackers today would not find anyone remaining behind to eat. They'd have to make do with kumara.               

This concludes my series (for now) of posts about volcanoes.  I'll no doubt climb some more in the future. Mt. Wellington might be next, but we'll see...            -djf

On top of Mt. Hobson

Welcome back to the top of Mt. Hobson. This was a Pa at one time. Pa can refer to any Maori village or defensive settlement, but it usually meant a hillfort. You can clearly see the defensive terraces here. I've read that the soil was very good here and there were many gardens of kumara all over the Pa area. 

I'll show you a few shots today of the top of the hill, some of the surrounding area and then finish by following a new path back down to the bottom of the hill. 

I got excited when I saw what I first thought was a cave. Then I could see that it had a gate over it. 

I walked down to see what is was and discovered that it the access tunnel to some water tanks. 

Back on the top again. On the left across the bay you see what appears to be one cone but is in fact two, Mt. Victoria and Mt. Cambria. On the right, some of you might recognize North Head. 

I think that's Mt. Eden.

There's little Mt. St. John that I visited recently.

None-Tree HIll again. 

Mt. Wellington. I like that one. Imagine it erupting. 

I'm heading back down now, but looking back up the hill at the terraces. 

No doubt about it, this would be a tough hill to climb with Maori warriors above me all the way. I think that the murdered girl was probably not the only casualty that day and the ovens may have been busy. 

Down at the entrance, I found this sign. 

I'm heading back toward the train station now but thought this gate was photo-worthy. 

A blooming tree  with Mt. Eden (I think) in the background.  I took this picture the last week in July, the middle of our winter, but plants all set their own schedules here.    -djf

A return to Remuera and a visit to Mt. Hobson.

I am starting this post the same way I started my first Remuera post, that is, with a look at the morning as I make my way over to the Sturges Road Train Platform.  When I started this blog, I hoped to give you a sense of what it is like to live here, and I want to continue to do that. I don't want to give you just the best pictures of the day's adventure. I want to also give you a few shots that might help set the scene. Or maybe a few shots of what you would see, if you were walking next to me on our way to the main attraction. That's why I include some pictures of everyday life. Like these first ones. 

 Sturges Road at 8:50 a.m. 

 Walking up the exit ramp at Remuera as the train departs. 

 The train platform here borders the Southern Roadway. 

 Another view of the Southern Roadway.

 I've discovered that Remuera has a lot of fine old houses all over the place. 

 This is one of the entrances to the Mt. Hobson cone. 

This is the very nice sign that greets visitors to the area. It shows the map and gives lots of information, some of which shocked me. The surprise came from one of those paragraphs that you see just to the right of the map, and just under the no-fires sign. It says:

Maori History

The mountain was most commonly called “Remuera” meaning “burnt edge”, referring to the incident when a young chieftainess, one of a party of visitors from Wharekawa, was murdered (probably near where the old Dilworth homestead now stands). Her dressed body was cooked in an oven. The “remu” or edge of the skirt was scorched, hence the name Remuera.

Even today, as I write this, I am somewhat taken aback. I knew that cannabalism had been practiced in New Zealand in the past, but this description of an actual event makes it much more 'present' to me. Good grief. This little town is named after an overdone roasted princess. This sign makes cannibalism a little too real for my taste. (no pun intended) 

It's one thing to read Voltaire. It was in his satire, Candide, that Cunegonde was devoured at one point, but only by Candide's eyes, and just one buttocks from the old woman was eaten.
It's one thing to write (with) tongue in cheek, but it's a different matter when when you mean it literally. Yipes. 

The oven that was mentioned I'm pretty sure was a hangi, or hole-in-the-ground oven, heated with hot rocks. I've never read that Maori had clay ovens, anyway. 

This sign also made me wonder if there are any other towns with such unique meanings. I searched from a site that listed 1,000 names and their meanings and found only Ihumatao, which means cold nose, (I assume this means like a healthy dog's and not left-over parts from dinner) and Kaitangata, which means man-eater. (specific, but nowhere near as graphic as scorched 'skirt')  I noticed however, that Remuera was not on this list so I clearly didn't see all of the place names that exist. 

Enough of that, let's continue. 

This path is longer than the Mt. St. John climb is, but it has only about half as many steps. I like an inclined plane better than steps. Easier on us old folks. I look forward to showing it to Jeanne once her knee is cooperating again. 

 The path rises gently here.

 How did they know I like benches?

 I'm getting higher up now.

 And the path gets steeper. We're almost up...

Just about at the top and downtown Auckland comes into view. 

 When I got to the top, I turned and saw this.  That's Rangitoto rising out of both the sea and clouds.

 I wonder what that is?  

 I'm passing two small side vents or whatever they're called.

I'm at the top. That is a "Trig Station." It is a survey mark that serves as a physical reference point for NZ's Geodetic System. 

My adventure on top of Mt. Hobson continues with my next post....               -djf

I got to thinking about left-overs for some unknown reason. Here is one of my favorite comments about them.  

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