Hitting the "high points"

I had the day off yesterday so Daniel Peters and I headed out to hit some of the higher places around Auckland. First we went to Mt. Victoria and North Head. Both are mountains right on the edge of the harbor, right next to one another. They are both at sort of the mouth of the harbor. In colonial days, on up to World War II, they were significant to the defense of the city, and nation. They are now public places. North Head is particularly fascinating, as it was home to a battery of huge guns that were dug into the mountain, along with a maze of tunnel systems and underground bunkers. Most of them are open now, so you can roam through them.

Hugh's tip of the day: If you should venture to roam said tunnels and bunkers, take a flashlight, as they are very dark in places. I do not recommend doing as Daniel and I did, using camera flashes to navigate through them. I did get some very interesting pictures from said camera flashes of the various innards of the fort; but we could only see for a fraction of a second, and then were totally blind in the darkness because of the flash.

These forts were home to some massive guns, placed here in the late 1800's during the "Russian Scare." At this time, New Zealand and Australia were fearful of a Russian attack, and therefore placed these massive guns on North Head, Mt. Victoria, and on a hill across the harbor to provide protection for the harbor inlet from naval encroachments. The guns, however, were never used in defense, and were only fired a hand-full of times in practice. However, even the practice firings were frowned upon because the citizens of nearby Davenport didn't take very kindly to having their windows blown out from the percussive force of the blasts. Yeah. Did I mention they were BIG guns. They were brought back again during World War II, along with additional guns; but again were never used in defense.

Interestingly enough, one of the only times the guns were seriously brought to alert was when Teddy Roosevelt's "Great White Fleet" (Google it) sailed into Auckland Harbour. America, at the time, was in a tussle with Japan and was not an ally of Great Brittan (Who New Zealand was still under). Great Brittan, however, had a treaty with Japan. A bit of drama anyone?

After we left North Head, we ventured into the City to "One Tree Hill." Which is a mountain, close to the middle of the city, that is a giant park. On the top stands a giant obelisk dedicated to a treaty signed between the British settlers, and the Maori (the native inhabitants) of New Zealand. The treaty granted the Maori all the rights, privileges and securities of British citizenship, and made them subjects of the crown.

The memorial is on the highest point of the mountain. Right in front of the memorial, a tree was planted, the only one actually on the highest part of the mountain where the monument is, thus making the name the name "One Tree Hill" a no brainier. Unfortunately several years ago, a protester chopped the tree down. The base of the tree is there, Which begs the question, If we follow the same line of reasoning that coined the original name of the hill, shouldn't it now be called "One Stump Hill?"

For those who see a correlation between the name of this place and the name of a TV show, there is indeed a connection. A full explanation of the association can be found on Wikipedia if you are interested.

Who knows what is next!