Monday 22nd January 2007
Karen, who arranged all our accommodation and the children's places at the school, came round today to show us a little bit of the layout of Auckland. She drove us through Cornwall Park to the top of One Tree Hill.
Cornwall Park is a fabulous, huge park right in the middle of Auckland. When the land was originally given to the people of Auckland a condition was placed on it that no-one could build on it and it had to retain a working farm. So you can do all the touristy things there - picnic, bike ride, walking, whatever you fancy buy you have to avoid the sheep and cows - pretty cool really.
One Tree Hill is a significant landmark for New Zealand. It used to have a solitary pine atop the hill until about ten years ago when a disgruntled local (Mike Smith) took a chainsaw to it and tried to chop it down. he was stopped before he could complete the job but sadly he had damaged the tree so badly it had to be removed a short time later. So One Tree Hill is no a misnomer - No Tree Hill it should be.
The week-end we arrived here, good old Mike Smith decided to make a bit of cash and tried to use an online auction site - Trade Me - to sell the infamous chainsaw. A huge furore ensued!!
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