Full Brain Full Body

We spent the day with a geologist and science writer who was a bundle of energy and gave it his all explaining how NZ was formed, how volcanos and earthquakes happen, how weather systems work, how pakui trees survive next to salt water, how the Auckland harbour was defended during WW2, how shellfish evolved, the best and worst architecture of Auckland and the fate of the monarch butterfly among other things. We travelled around Auckland visiting various geological sites, had a delicious buffet lunch at a seaside restaurant, then carried onto the site of one of many volcano's that are the foundation (so to speak) of Auckland.  This whole country is literally a disaster waiting to happen.  Auckland is not high risk for earthquakes but has hundreds of hot spots for volcanic eruptions. There are 3,000 smaller earthquakes a year around the country and big earthquakes have devastated Wellington, Napier and Christchurch. From the air you can see the fault lines running through Wellington.  The good news is that they have been very proactive in developing safer buildings that can better withstand quakes and old ones have been torn down or rebuilt from within to come up to code. This is also a hot bed, so to speak, of geological study bringing researchers from around the world. Some small comfort.

Along the beach there are the fossil remains, or the holes of 500 trees that were left after the volcano left successive rings of lava around their trunks. You can tell by the size of the hole how big the tree was.

The volcano spewed out great boulders of hot soft light balls of basalt that stuck together and eventually eroded down enough to support plant life.

We spent most of our day around Davenport the home of the NZ navy and the entrance to the protected Auckland harbour. During WWII a net of mines was drawn across the two entrances to prevent submarines from coming in and big guns on the top of the volcanic hills that were riddled with tunnels defended the harbour. 

We also saw black swans

And learned about how the trees growing next to the water keep from losing their moisture from osmosis and get their nutrients from bird poop that gets washed over the airial roots by the rain.

This is a swan plant (because of its shape) part of the milkweed family that the Monarch butterflies need. But there is a new wasp that is eating the larvae and putting them at risk

We also learned about the 'exquisite' architecture of the neighbourhood. These small houses sell for well over 1 million dollars

It was a long day and by the time we got home my brain was full as my stomach. I didn't want another meal so rested up then went for a walk down to the redeveloped marina district. It was a beautiful evening, the area was filled with people. I forgot my camera but took these with my iphone.