May 19, 2021
We have been on a quest to summit all of the great peaks of Auckland. So far we have climbed One Tree Hill (Maungakiekie), Mt. Eden (Maungawhau), Mt. Hobson (Ohinerau) and North Head (Maungauika). Today, we climbed Mt. Wellington (Maungarei). It is the youngest onshore volcano of the Auckland region, having formed just 10,000 years ago.
From the top of Mt. Wellington, it is easy to see just how close the west and east coasts of the North Island of New Zealand come to meeting in Auckland. At the bottom left of the following photo you can see inlets from the Waitemata Harbour that lies on the east side of the island on the Pacific Ocean. At the top right just below the horizon you can see part of the Manukau Harbour that is on the west side of the island on the Tasman Sea. It made us wonder why a canal has never been built to join the two. It couldn’t be more than a mile or so between them.
Previously, during our Auckland walks we have come across quarries that have been turned into playing fields and gardens. Today we came across a whole neighborhood. When we lived in Auckland in the eighties, Stonefields was a large discontinued quarry, infamous for its packs of wild dogs. But over the last twenty of so years, the quarry has been repurposed as part of a massive development and is now home to about 5,000 people.
Mal and Lauren 