Tinakori Hill

Tinakori Hill is part of the town belt above the suburb of Thorndon. It is just north of us. This is the view looking down Glen Road. The bare area was covered in pine trees but a storm a few years ago devastated much of it. The worst affected areas were cleared by helicopter and an extensive reforestation exercise is taking place. The remaining pines will probably go over the next few years as they get to be old and creaky. As an aside "Tinakori" is reputedly derived from the Maori for "no dinner". When the road was being built in the 1850s the predominately Maori road gang were told on the last day they wouldn't be eating until the job was complete!
This view is from the lower slopes and is looking back into the Botanic Garden at Jenny's favourite sculpture!

The weather wasn't the best. Here is a windswept Nico with Glen Road in the middle of the picture. On the way down you get good views of the city. Here Noreen and Jude are on a bench with the harbour and Mount Victoria behind.

And looking out across Port Nicholson, the Thorndon Quays and railway yards. The big oval object (familiarly known as the "cake tin") is the main sports stadium in the Wellington region.

Lastly, we had a bit of a cold snap last week. The mountains to the north are the Tararuas and on a clears winter day are often covered in snow. The visibility here is not brilliant but given that the peaks are 1500 m high and probably 50Km away it's not bad. Incidently this is the view out of my office window. The container wharfs are in the middle distance and the Hutt Valley extends way up to the north at the end of the harbour. As with all these pictures you may need to enlarge them by clicking on them to open in a new window.