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  • View to New Life

    View to New Life

     

    Todays image brings my One Tree Hill/Cornwall Park series to a close. The building in view is the local hospital, once known as National Womens. Many mothers when there back in the day to have their children. It was not always practice that the father/husband could come into the birthing area with the mum to be. With One Tree Hill just behind, some fathers to be may have taken a stroll up to this point, listening to the lambs and eagerly awaiting their own youngster!

    As this post goes live, it also signals the end of my Easter break. All going well, I’ll be back tomorrow with some new images from where I went. Catch you then!

  • Tree on the Hill

    Tree on the Hill

     

    Another ‘Tree on the Hill’ on One Tree Hill. Looking North, I snapped this, just enjoying the tree against the clear sky and the gradually curved mound – about 4/5’s of the way down the hill and back into Cornwall Park.

    Shot on the Sony Nex, edited in Gimp.

  • The View

    The View

     

    Moving down the hill a little, and toward the North from yesterdays image, I snapped ‘The View’

    One Tree Hill is full of quite little spots where one can relax, sit and take in nature, as well as look out towards Auckland. Unless you choose one of the common trails, you will only be bothered by the local sheep and the odd runner (depending on the time of day). On the sheep note – look where you sit – these guys are not shy in fertilising the whole hillside!

    Shot on the Sony Nex and edited in Gimp

  • Once was One Tree Hill

    Once was One Tree

     

    So todays image is what One Tree Hill now looks like (minus the one tree!). There have been a number of illegal replantings of trees on the summit, removed by the local council. It is said that when Treaty claims are finalised, or when local council and Iwi (loosely the Maori group of the area) come to an agreement, we may once again see a tree on the summit.

    For now however, we still have the tall obelisk where Sir Campbell is buried.

    Although I didn’t grab any shots from the summit on this visit, the view is spectacular from the top. 360 degree all around Auckland!

    Shot on the Sony Nex and edited in Gimp.

  • Little Sheep Below

    Little Sheep below

     

    Moving up past the tree in yesterdays posting, the view down towards the southern side of Cornwall Park starts to show our elevation, with sheep turning into small ant size…sheep.

    As mentioned yesterday, One tree Hill is covered in Trees. However, back in the day, it had a big tree on the summit of the hill. Visually recognisable from miles around, the tree was cut down in 1852 by the ‘white settler’ either for fire wood, or as an act of vandalism. Sir Campbell attempted to plant new native trees on the summit (Totara being the preference for its cultural value), but they did not survive, and in the 1870’s two radiata pines were planted and grew. Along came the 1960’s and again one tree was felled (but is ok, there was still one left!). We then reach the 1990’s and the surviving tree was subject to a number of attacks from Maori activists (I won’t go into great detail here, but the activists were making a point about injustices from the past). Sadly (regardless of which side of the fence one sits with the activist points), in 2000, after a second attack, the tree was deemed a danger, and a lost cause recovery wise and was felled.

    (more tomorrow)

    Shot on the Sony Nex and edited in Gimp.