the great outdoors

nobody@flickr.com (pukunui81) — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 01:29:21 -0700

pukunui81 posted a photo:

Ugh. What a day. D2 was invited to a birthday party on a farm down south near Huntly. D1 wasn't invited, so I thought she and I could go exploring.

The original plan was to go hike up this hill and check out this grove of ancient kauri trees. D1 brought a Barbie and I brought Spectra (who got specially dressed up for the occasion) and Rarity.

When we got there, though, D1 decided it looked too steep, so we turned around and headed into Huntly to go check out the landscaped walkway around Laka Hakanoa.

That in itself was a little disappointing insofar as it isn't finished. It has some potential, though. Anyway, there was this great old dead hunk of gnarled tree right at the start of the walkway. I thought it would be a great place to take photos but I wanted to go on the walk and see what else was there first.

The walk around the lake took longer than we expected and we didn't have a lot of time when we finally got back to the car, but I wanted to quickly take a photo of Spectra and Rarity by this dead tree.

So we walked back over there and crossed the little stream and I was just getting set up when these two boys came over to fish! They looked like just the sort of small town boys who would say something, so I quickly stuffed the doll and pony back in my pockets and resigned myself to not getting any photos of them by the really cool tree.

However, I was determined to show off Spectra in her hiking apparel, so when we got home, I went out to the rock pile and took this photo.

I'm sorry it's not a more exotic location. You can blame the steep hill and the boys who wanted to go fishing for that! Well, and my embarrassment. LOL.

Anyway ...

Mt Mangere Field Trip panorama

nobody@flickr.com (pukunui81) — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 18:21:46 -0700

pukunui81 posted a photo:

A panoramic view of Mt Mangere's main crater. The view is to the south-southeast in the direction of the airport. Mt Mangere last erupted roughly 18,000 years ago and is the only crater, out of the 50-odd in the Auckland region, to have a pronounced lava dome in its center. If you look closely, you can see a group of school kids hiking up the side of the dome.

I've got lots more to come from my visit to Mangere Domain, so stay tuned!

View full size for the best detail.

View from the Waitakeres

nobody@flickr.com (pukunui81) — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 22:03:54 -0700

pukunui81 posted a photo:

I went out to check out Fairy Falls in the Waitakeres this morning before the rain set in. I came across this view a little way along the track from the car park.

Uploads from pukunui81, tagged hiking, with geodata

the great outdoors

Mt Mangere Field Trip panorama

View from the Waitakeres