#takarunga

Lunch!

Takarunga (above) means ‘hill standing above’ in Māori. Tallest volcano on Tāmaki’s North Shore

Takararo (below) means ‘the hill below’ in Māori.

Sadly, this 40m high summit was quarried (1870s-1978) and this crater edge that was too much effort for them to quarry is almost all that remains. The stairs are made from the scoria from the volcano!

Disappearing guns

In 1899 a 8" Armstrong Disappearing Gun was installed at Fort Victoria, at the 283 ft summit of Mount Victoria above the town of Devonport. The battery gun was designed to retract into the ground after firing in attempts to conceal its location, hence its nickname, the "Disappearing Gun".

New Zealand was concerned by the growing presence of the Russian fleet in the Pacific Ocean. Disappearing guns like this one were installed in a number of defensive positions around New Zealand.