Showing posts with label Auckland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Auckland. Show all posts
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Tiritiri Matangi Island
Reaching back to the catch up on the blog project... Somehow I've stuffed up the HTML on this post, and the "improved" Blogger setup is too much of a pain to try to sort it out.
A number of weeks ago now, Shannon and I spend two days and a night out on Tiritiri Matangi island, which is a bird sanctuary that's about an hour's ferry ride from city center.
Greg has about a dozen friends, and they are the only birds of this kind left. At about the time of this writing, a few of them were going to be moved over to another island to try to start a new habitat.
The facilities on the island are from the farm days, as well as early navigation. There is a pretty nice bunkhouse that sleeps 15 or so folks. It was about two thirds full the night we were there. It's the red roof.
It's an excellent island for walking, as you can circumnavigate the whole thing in about three hours. And there is plenty of good bird life along the way, including the aforementioned takahe, fantails, hihi, bellbirds, saddlebacks, and many more. There are kiwi on the island, too, but we never managed to see one, despite a long walk in the dark. We heard one though.
The hihi and bellbirds were shockingly loud. This video shows what it was like to stand near a feeding station. What you can't really tell is that they are swarming around you, and they are much louder than the video indicates. It's shocking, really.
It turns out, there is also great coastline and plant life as well. Makes for a pretty lovely day of walking around, taking pictures, and snacking.
There are penguins on the island, too. When we were there it was nesting season, so you could look into the penguin boxes through the glass tops and see mothers keeping eggs warm. They seemed to not be bothered by the visitors.
After a windy night we awoke to find that the ferry ride out was going to be a rough one. So rough that they took the boat away somewhere safer during the day. It turned out to be a pretty serious ride back, with six or seven foot seas and gusts of about 100 kph.
A number of weeks ago now, Shannon and I spend two days and a night out on Tiritiri Matangi island, which is a bird sanctuary that's about an hour's ferry ride from city center.
The island was farmed in the middle of the 1900s and has been rehabilitated to its natural state and the bird life is now thriving, if not managed. There are a number of unique birds, including the takahe. Allow me to introduce Greg.
Greg has about a dozen friends, and they are the only birds of this kind left. At about the time of this writing, a few of them were going to be moved over to another island to try to start a new habitat.
The facilities on the island are from the farm days, as well as early navigation. There is a pretty nice bunkhouse that sleeps 15 or so folks. It was about two thirds full the night we were there. It's the red roof.
It's an excellent island for walking, as you can circumnavigate the whole thing in about three hours. And there is plenty of good bird life along the way, including the aforementioned takahe, fantails, hihi, bellbirds, saddlebacks, and many more. There are kiwi on the island, too, but we never managed to see one, despite a long walk in the dark. We heard one though.
The hihi and bellbirds were shockingly loud. This video shows what it was like to stand near a feeding station. What you can't really tell is that they are swarming around you, and they are much louder than the video indicates. It's shocking, really.
There are penguins on the island, too. When we were there it was nesting season, so you could look into the penguin boxes through the glass tops and see mothers keeping eggs warm. They seemed to not be bothered by the visitors.
After a windy night we awoke to find that the ferry ride out was going to be a rough one. So rough that they took the boat away somewhere safer during the day. It turned out to be a pretty serious ride back, with six or seven foot seas and gusts of about 100 kph.
Another lovely place, right outside of Auckland.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Brewing Update
Brown ale is coming out of the bottles. It's actually much better than we expected. It's slightly on the sweet side but it may have a little too much priming sugar.
An IPA is in secondary fermentation/bottle conditioning. We know that we've overprimed it. We're having a little bit of runaway beer. But, it seemed like it was tasting pretty good before bottling. It's got a lot of potential, if we can keep it in the bottles...
An IPA is in secondary fermentation/bottle conditioning. We know that we've overprimed it. We're having a little bit of runaway beer. But, it seemed like it was tasting pretty good before bottling. It's got a lot of potential, if we can keep it in the bottles...
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Sky Tower
The Sky Tower is one of the major tourist attractions in Auckland, at least if you read the literature. it's also expensive to get to the top. My thought is that the free view from the top of Mount Eden is just as good, if not a little better, unless you really like boats.
But when we landed on two for one entry, we went for it. And it was a good view from the top, no doubt. Worth it at half price, for sure. Tricky to take photos though. The way it's lit, there is a lot of reflection on the glass from the interior lights.
This guy is about to jump off. It actually looks kind of fun, except on windy days when they have to let you dangle and settle before you fall.
But when we landed on two for one entry, we went for it. And it was a good view from the top, no doubt. Worth it at half price, for sure. Tricky to take photos though. The way it's lit, there is a lot of reflection on the glass from the interior lights.
This guy is about to jump off. It actually looks kind of fun, except on windy days when they have to let you dangle and settle before you fall.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Rangitoto Island
Not quite as long ago, Shannon and I took a ferry over to Rangitoto Island. It's an extinct volcano in the middle of the harbor, about 25 minutes by ferry. It was last active ~600 years ago. It's set up for day trips at this stage, but back in the day, there were batches over there and a bit of a settlement. Now it's just a nice place to hike around for the day.
You can walk around about half the island easily before going up to the peak. It's all volcanic rock along the way, and I think the only thing that I've ever been to that resembles the big island of Hawaii.
We happened to steal a trip over on what turned out to be the best day of winter, as far as I'm concerned. Sunburns were the big worry of the day.
Moisture burning off in the morning sun. It's really extinct.
Something that is really cool about this island is the network of old lava caves that you can walk through. Some are bigger than others, some go nowhere, some go through. It's a mixed bag. I suppose you could probably play around in there for quite a while. We walked through one and I stuck my head into another. We saw some Canadians that took a rope and went deep into one of them. Pretty cool stuff to explore.
You can walk around about half the island easily before going up to the peak. It's all volcanic rock along the way, and I think the only thing that I've ever been to that resembles the big island of Hawaii.
We happened to steal a trip over on what turned out to be the best day of winter, as far as I'm concerned. Sunburns were the big worry of the day.
Moisture burning off in the morning sun. It's really extinct.
Something that is really cool about this island is the network of old lava caves that you can walk through. Some are bigger than others, some go nowhere, some go through. It's a mixed bag. I suppose you could probably play around in there for quite a while. We walked through one and I stuck my head into another. We saw some Canadians that took a rope and went deep into one of them. Pretty cool stuff to explore.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Auckland Transit & RWC
The Rugby World Cup is being held in New Zealand this year. There are matches all over the country, and it's generally a good thing. Auckland is where the final, and a number of big games are going to be held.
I worry about all the visitors.
Transit here isn't geared up for the volume of folks that will be coming. Shannon and I commented about how full a bus was one recent Sunday afternoon. Weekend transit is pretty thin.
A couple weeks back, we took a cab, and the driver didn't know where one of the major train stations was. Not a good look for a country showing off to the world how they can handle big events.
There are a few weeks to go. I hope that the city can shape itself up to move all these people! I also hope that being as close as we are to Eden Park doesn't make this place insufferable for six weeks.
I worry about all the visitors.
Transit here isn't geared up for the volume of folks that will be coming. Shannon and I commented about how full a bus was one recent Sunday afternoon. Weekend transit is pretty thin.
A couple weeks back, we took a cab, and the driver didn't know where one of the major train stations was. Not a good look for a country showing off to the world how they can handle big events.
There are a few weeks to go. I hope that the city can shape itself up to move all these people! I also hope that being as close as we are to Eden Park doesn't make this place insufferable for six weeks.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Brewing Update
An update on the homebrew situation. We tried two with moderate success. It seemed a little flat, and still a little sweet. We eventually sorted out the fact that secondary fermentation was too cold. We've relocated the beer to our hot water heater storage room, and things seem to be much better with #3 (less sweet, more bubbles).
We may not be able to recover all the secondary, but we at least understand where things went wrong. Next time should be better.
Monday, May 16, 2011
One Tree Hill
The view from the top, and the monument on the top, on a rainy day. Cue the U2 song of the same name.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Huia
Took another quick hike up in the Waitakere Ranges a couple weekends back. After a day of rain, and more threatening, we wanted something outside but low risk if it got nasty.
The loop we took was a nice hike, but not especially photogenic, as it was dense bush most of the way. On the way in though, we got a good view of the mouth of the Manukau Harbour.
You may recall, loyal readers, that we were trying to get out to the end of one of the headlands when we wound up at Hamiltons Gap. We were trying to get to the end of the land mass on the left in the above shot.
While staring at this rock, we did get a rainbow right in front of us, which was pretty solid.
The actual hike was good. There were a number of giant kauri trees scattered through the forest. Pretty impressively tall and straight for the most part, but occasionally, there were some that seemed to just go wide, as this one, the Tom Thumb kauri.
As you can see, it was pretty much a muddy mess. We were pretty filthy at the end, and pleased to be in gaiters. Here we are at the highest point in the Waitakere Ranges - a whopping 474 meters. The sign had been updated to the latest survey data using a sharpie.
The loop we took was a nice hike, but not especially photogenic, as it was dense bush most of the way. On the way in though, we got a good view of the mouth of the Manukau Harbour.
You may recall, loyal readers, that we were trying to get out to the end of one of the headlands when we wound up at Hamiltons Gap. We were trying to get to the end of the land mass on the left in the above shot.
While staring at this rock, we did get a rainbow right in front of us, which was pretty solid.
The actual hike was good. There were a number of giant kauri trees scattered through the forest. Pretty impressively tall and straight for the most part, but occasionally, there were some that seemed to just go wide, as this one, the Tom Thumb kauri.
As you can see, it was pretty much a muddy mess. We were pretty filthy at the end, and pleased to be in gaiters. Here we are at the highest point in the Waitakere Ranges - a whopping 474 meters. The sign had been updated to the latest survey data using a sharpie.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
