Monthly Archives: November 2012

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Here We Go!

One day a very good friend of mine was visiting Auckland on a whirlwind and we wanted to kill some time in the general vicinity of the airport and as I was wracking my brain as to what we might do, I pulled up a map of the area and saw a rather large green space called “Mangare Mountain” and since I’d seen it many times on the way past I figured it was high time I paid a visit. When the day came it was overcast and windy like you wouldn’t believe so the mountain idea was shelved, but it never quite left my head.

We ended up hanging out at Manukau Mall. Here is the awesome stained glass window. A tribute to the nearby Rainbow's End funpark I guess.

We ended up hanging out at Manukau Mall. Here is the awesome stained glass window. A tribute to the nearby Rainbow’s End funpark I guess.

A few days later after some more reading and a definite determination to get there (and also knowing it was actually a volcano) the thought popped into my head: “I should visit ALL the volcanoes in Auckland”. I grew up in Auckland and spent most of my life here. I’ve always known that Auckland was built on 50 odd volcanoes but never had any compulsion to visit all of them; it had just never occurred to me. So for the next few years (2013 & 2014 & 2015) I’ve decided to get out and explore my home town using the geologic features of the landscape as a starting point.

There is some discussion surrounding exactly how many volcanoes there are. Most people say, “Auckland is built on 50 volcanoes”, possibly because it’s easier to say than: “Auckland is built on the Auckland Volcanic Field consisting of at least 50 volcanoes and more are still being discovered. We can’t put an exact number on it because it will mostly likely be superseded soon, some craters have been found to appear inside other craters and others have been covered by houses and forgotten”. I aim to visit all 55 of the currently known volcanoes (or remnants thereof).

Here is the list:

Be sure to check back every few weeks and see which volcanoes I’ve been to. I have no particular order as such but most likely will visit ones close to each other in each trip.