Yellow

 

Can we call the building on the right "yellow"? I hope so. This is a photo of one of the roads around Devonport in Auckland. I use to work in this town many years ago and I vaguely remember at some point visiting this building, I could be wrong but I think it use to be a pub, there's something in the back of my memories where I vaguely remember visiting there for drinks when I was in my late teens/early 20s. I don't think it is now, we drove past it and it looked like the bottom level was now a cafe. There is a naval base in this suburb at the opposite end.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections and the Weekend Roundup.

X marks the spot

 

This is another one from a year ago of the surburb "Devonport" on Auckland's north shore. 2 weeks ago I posted about the restaurant "Vondel" which is at the bottom of this main road into town. There is an old theatre up the top of the road, not sure if it still gets used or not but most the street is full of old buildings from when the town was first populated. When I was in my early 20s I worked in this town as a legal typist for lawyers and I use to spend my lunchtimes browsing the shops.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections, Lydia's Favourite Fotos and the Weekend Roundup.

Vondel

 

I nthe heart of Devonport in Auckland is this little block of businesses. In my younger days I worked in this suburb as a legal typist for lawyers and to see it now as it is, it's made many changes over the years. This building is surrounded by older style buildings in the main street with businesses such as shoe shops, clothing shops, professionals, cafes, bars, restaurants etc. It's a very upmarket suburb with quite expensive houses along the waterfront. Vondel in the above photo is a restaurant but upon looking up their website, there wasn't alot of information about who they are.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections and the Weekend Roundup.

Intersection

It's not often I get to Devonport on Auckland's North Shore as there are 2 ways to get there. One is by ferry from the opposite side which is the city and the other is to brave the traffic through Takapuna, Belmont and Bayswater. 

This angle is down the bottom end near the wharf and ocean but when we turned right to drive back up the hill, I was able to see where I use to work back in the early 1990s before we moved up north. I use to get 2 buses from home, one to Takapuna and the other one would take me here where I worked part time for 2 lawyers. It was good to see so many of the old buildings are still there.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections and the Weekend Roundup.

The signalman's house

In Devonport halfway up Mount Victoria is this cute little period house now named "The Michael King Writer's Centre". Michael King was New Zealand’s most prominent writer of non-fiction. He had a great sense of humour, huge curiosity, and a scholar’s intensity, but always with a popular touch.

His histories appealed, beyond any specialist audience, to the wider New Zealand public. This house can now be used by writers who need a quiet place to work.  Originally this house was known as "The signalman's house" though. The first signalmen lived in a tent or a raupo hut on the top of Mt Victoria and later a house was built on the summit. The summit was fortified because of the Russian scare in the 1880s and it was eventually taken over by the Defence Department. In 1898 the Auckland Harbour Board decided to build a new house for the signalman on the current site, about half way down the southern slope of the mountain. 

The first signalman started in 1842 and the 4th and final one lived here in 1934. 

Linking up with Our World Tuesday, Through my lens, Tuesday Treasures, My Corner of the World and Wordless Wednesday.

A mixed weekend

 If you're on social media like I am, do you ever order products from companies online then see adverts for the same products being suggested to you? I usually do and not just that but lately I've been seeing suggestions for things like babies nappies and adult ones, senior dating and senior fertility treatments. The internet truly does know everything about us doesn't it?

We have our national elections due in October and this year for some reason it seems so lackluster. None of the parties are really sniping at each other....yet and it just seems so boring.

I do have a question about gardening though. Do any of you grow roses like I do? If so, what do you do to get rid of aphids? I've tried the old dishwashing water on the plant but if there is any other method please let me know.

Have a great weekend, kia kaha. Photo above from Devonport Wharf looking across to Auckland City. Linking up with Weekend Reflections.

Devonport's Esplanade Hotel

In the early 1990s I worked here in Devonport on Auckland's North Shore for a couple of lawyers. In those days the town was even busier than it is now. After nearly 25 years we visited the town again so I should show the other half. The Esplanade hotel in the foreground was built around 1900/1901 by a builder named Archibald Grandison and because it overlooks the harbour it quickly became a popular summer seaside resort back in those days. Over the years it's become a place where bands played and workers enjoy a cold drink after work.

Devonport is filled with old Victorian wooden villas and historic buildings, as you can see in the photo. These days it's still a busy place and the buildings are filled with unique shops and businesses. The day we were here the rain gave us a brief reprieve so I was able to capture some blue sky but it didn't last for long.

Linking up with My corner of the world

Morena Rangitoto!

When I was growing up as a child in the suburbs of Auckland my mother use to take my siblings and I up to the top of this mountain in Devonport. Mount Victoria, where I took this photo however it's the volcanic landscape in the distance that interests me more.

Rangitoto Island is volcanic and located in the Hauraki Gulf. It is 5.5km island and measures in height 260m. "Rangitoto" is maori for "bloody sky" and is the youngest and largest of around 50 volcanoes in the Auckland area. It erupted approx 600 years ago. It is not dead like most volcanoes but dormant (asleep) and could erupt again at any time. I've never been there, you have to get there by boat and it is now managed by the Department of Conservation, the Ngai Tai and Ngati Paoa tribes.

Visitors are not allowed to take dogs or other animals onto the island and after many years of trying to get rid of rats, stoats, mice, cats, goats, deer, wallaby and possums it is now pest free. North Island Saddlebacks are prevalent there after once being threatened into extinction and Kaka birds once lived there before colonization.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday.