Day 15: Auckland
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This was the last day of our trip, so we made our way back to
Auckland. Our flight didn't leave until 9pm, so we had plenty of time
to explore the city.
These pictures were taken from the top of Mount Eden (196m). It is
an extinct volcano very near the center of the city. Behind me, you can
see evidence of other extinct volcanos in the area. Behind Ian, you can
see the center of the city, including the Sky Tower, the tallest
structure in the Southern Hemisphere at 328m.
Behind Ian, you can see the volcano's crater, which was
impressively deep. Notice how the grass on the crater is strangely
terraced. We noticed this all over the hills in New Zealand. It took us
a while to figure out what caused it, but eventually we determined that
they were paths created by sheep and cows as they graze the steeper
slopes. And yes, even though there were no sheep or cows on this
volcano while we were there, there was evidence left over that they had
been there somewhat recently. We noticed all over New Zealand that many
parks or hills, even in densely populated areas, were not sacred enough
not to be used as pasture at least occasionally.
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