I love the smell of jetlag in the morning
May 01, 2006 at 11:32 PM | categories: New Zealand | View Comments
My flight came in at 6am, but the nice folks in the local office arranged for a driver to meet me. The hotel is on the north shore, directly across the bay from central Auckland.
While I was taking a picture of the view, I noticed a big hill to the south-west. It's Mount Victoria (less than 100m high, but ok...) and it's an extinct volcano. Or so we hope.
But first, I need cash and a SIM card for the phone. That's easy enough - and I like the way this phone tells me where I am. Sorry about the picture quality... maybe I'll figure out how to turn off the flash, some day.
Before I tackle a gigantic mountain like that, though, I'll need some lunch. Here's a nice looking place....
Oh, they have Orval. I've been meaning to try that.
Wait a minute! What's that behind my beer? Am I in Belgium?
It's not a bad place: they even imported Belgian waiters, so it took about an hour and a half to get lunch and pay. Most of that time was spent trying to attract someone's attention for a second beer: then I gave up and spent the rest of the time trying to get the bill. Very european... it's not really that I'm in a hurry, but I wanted a Duvel too.
OK, it's time to take a short bus ride to Devenport and take that hill. Oh look! Pretty flowers!
It's a pretty steep hill, but I make it to the top and discover... the secret lair of kiwi folk musicians! Remember what Tom Lehrer said? "the reason most folk songs are so atrocious is that they were written by the people."
But who is this guy? A folk musician, maybe? An extra troll left over from The Hobbit? You didn't think I was going to make it through the day without at least one NZ-LotR reference, did you?
This hill used to have Maori on it: you can see some of their stone walls (terracing) and things. I'm guessing this statue is Maori, too, but there's no plaque. What kind of a tourist attraction is this?
Anyway the view is nice. Here's another volcano: is it really a good idea to put houses on a cinder cone, even if you're pretty sure it's extinct?
And here's Rangitoto, the youngest island in Auckland harbor. It's a volcano too. Why aren't there any houses on it?
Hey, I can see my hotel room from here - it's the tallest building in view.
Do my eyes deceive me, or is that amanita muscaria? Apparently it shows up in NZ: probably the most toxic plant around. And here's a whole field of them!
There seems to be a holding tank of some kind under the hill. I think these are ventilator stacks, or something similar. But where's the plaque? There's an observation post, too: barbed wire, but no plaque.
And there's a gun - with a plaque! Yes!
The best thing about the picture is that I can read the plaque. I didn't bother to read it when I was standing there, so that's handy.
This is also one of those peaks where they have a little scale model, to show you what you're looking at. There's something like this at Discovery Point, above the San Francisco Bay. I especially like the "You Are Here" note - but oddly they didn't label Rangitoto.
You mean I could have driven here? Oh well - I needed the exercise. And I'm still spooked about the whole left-side driving thing... I'm supposed to pick up a car on Thursday, so I'll just have to get over it, right?
Uh oh - here come more tourists. I'm so outta here.
It's time to find a drink, and think about dinner. Anyone for Thai?
While I was taking a picture of the view, I noticed a big hill to the south-west. It's Mount Victoria (less than 100m high, but ok...) and it's an extinct volcano. Or so we hope.
But first, I need cash and a SIM card for the phone. That's easy enough - and I like the way this phone tells me where I am. Sorry about the picture quality... maybe I'll figure out how to turn off the flash, some day.
Before I tackle a gigantic mountain like that, though, I'll need some lunch. Here's a nice looking place....
Oh, they have Orval. I've been meaning to try that.
Wait a minute! What's that behind my beer? Am I in Belgium?
It's not a bad place: they even imported Belgian waiters, so it took about an hour and a half to get lunch and pay. Most of that time was spent trying to attract someone's attention for a second beer: then I gave up and spent the rest of the time trying to get the bill. Very european... it's not really that I'm in a hurry, but I wanted a Duvel too.
OK, it's time to take a short bus ride to Devenport and take that hill. Oh look! Pretty flowers!
It's a pretty steep hill, but I make it to the top and discover... the secret lair of kiwi folk musicians! Remember what Tom Lehrer said? "the reason most folk songs are so atrocious is that they were written by the people."
But who is this guy? A folk musician, maybe? An extra troll left over from The Hobbit? You didn't think I was going to make it through the day without at least one NZ-LotR reference, did you?
This hill used to have Maori on it: you can see some of their stone walls (terracing) and things. I'm guessing this statue is Maori, too, but there's no plaque. What kind of a tourist attraction is this?
Anyway the view is nice. Here's another volcano: is it really a good idea to put houses on a cinder cone, even if you're pretty sure it's extinct?
And here's Rangitoto, the youngest island in Auckland harbor. It's a volcano too. Why aren't there any houses on it?
Hey, I can see my hotel room from here - it's the tallest building in view.
Do my eyes deceive me, or is that amanita muscaria? Apparently it shows up in NZ: probably the most toxic plant around. And here's a whole field of them!
There seems to be a holding tank of some kind under the hill. I think these are ventilator stacks, or something similar. But where's the plaque? There's an observation post, too: barbed wire, but no plaque.
And there's a gun - with a plaque! Yes!
The best thing about the picture is that I can read the plaque. I didn't bother to read it when I was standing there, so that's handy.
This is also one of those peaks where they have a little scale model, to show you what you're looking at. There's something like this at Discovery Point, above the San Francisco Bay. I especially like the "You Are Here" note - but oddly they didn't label Rangitoto.
You mean I could have driven here? Oh well - I needed the exercise. And I'm still spooked about the whole left-side driving thing... I'm supposed to pick up a car on Thursday, so I'll just have to get over it, right?
Uh oh - here come more tourists. I'm so outta here.
It's time to find a drink, and think about dinner. Anyone for Thai?