One Tree Hill

This afternoon we went to One Tree Hill.

No, not that One Tree Hill, silly. This One Tree Hill:

This was potentially a mistake, as it is an extinct volcano that I had to walk up, and given my current status as a chesty mouth breather, it was rather difficult. But, after tailing behind the others slightly, I finally scaled the volcano and got to the top.

To find my camera battery had died.

The camera cannot capture the sights of looking over the whole of Auckland, seeing the CBD skyline on one side, Rangitoto silluoetted against the horizon on another, and both of Auckland's harbours.

One Tree Hill, or Maungakiekie, was an old Maori pa (settlement), and the greatest fortress in the country. It used to have a sacred totara tree on top, but we came along in 1852 and chopped it down, replacing it with a Monterey pine from Europe. That stood until 2000, when Maori activists chopped it down (according to my guidebook, they first tried to chop it down in 1994, but only succeeded in 2000. I don't know what they were using that took six years. A spoon maybe?). This means that, at the moment, there is no tree on One Tree Hill.

There is, however, the grave of someone called Cornwall, who in his will decreed an obelisk be built on the top, as a monument to the Maori people. There will not be a tree until after all the current land wars are finally settled, but it will probably be an indigenous tree!

The other DrA (the male one) had a bit of a mishap while climbing over a rather unimpressive wall. His trousers split all the way up from mid thigh to groin, exposing him quite a lot. Cue much laughter.