We have only about a month left, and our list of things to do before we go seems to get longer rather than shorter. One "must do" was to visit the rougher, wilder west coast of Auckland (Waiheke is in the sedate, quiet east coast). Fortunately Michael's officemate Hamish lives out there and he offered to take Mike for a tour.
The tour started at "One Tree Hill", famous for not having a tree. It used to have a tall stately tree, but it was regularly attacked by Maori activists (the tree was not a native, and the hill is sacred to many Maori). Eventually, the tree decided enough was enough and it died. Now there is a very tall obelisk in honor of the Maori, which seems kinda out of place. But the views from the top of the hill are wonderful. In typical kiwi fashion, the park surrounding the hill is given over to sheep.
We then headed off to the west coast, beginning by walking up a Mount Donald McLean (more of a hill than a mount) to get an overview of the area, then off on a long walk (Hamish thinks it was a short walk)at the beach at Whatipu. The beach is predominantly a black sand beach. West coast beaches are much rougher and more isolated than east coast (and Waiheke) beaches. We then had lunch (which was a good idea: the day was much hotter than planned and I was getting a little wobbly-legged) before heading down to Karekare for a visit to a waterfall and its beach. We ended the day with a walk along the beach at Piha, well known for its role in the hit TV series "Piha Rescue".
Apparently, many operations research people have been on this sort of day with Hamish, so Mike is now the latest in a long string of exhausted OR faculty who tried to keep up with Hamish's outings. Fortunately, the day ended at a bar with the most amazing views over all of Auckland. |
| Auckland West Coast |
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