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Archive for the 'Walking Tour' Category

New Zealand: Waitakere – Arataki Visitor Centre in Waitakere NZ

Tuesday, December 24th, 2019

It’s surprising to find this peace and quiet in this amazing location outside the Arataki Visitor Centre in Waitakere so close to the bustling city of Auckland. These steps take you eventually up up up to the sky view.

Tags: Arataki, Arataki Visitor Centre, Auckland, Centre, city, foliage, fresh air, local, location, Manukau, Nature, nature trail, nature walk, New Zealand, NZ, ocean, outdoors, peace and quiet, range, regional park, scenery, sights, sightseeing, sky, stairs, steps, tour, tourist, tranquility, travelblogger, view, view from the top, visitor, visitor centre, Waitakere, Waitakere ranges, Waitakere Ranges Regional Park

Posted in History, National and State Parks, Nature, New Zealand, Travel, Walking Tour | Comments Off on New Zealand: Waitakere – Arataki Visitor Centre in Waitakere NZ

New Zealand: Waitakere – Life From Death

Tuesday, December 24th, 2019

We liked it when this sign on an Arataki trail in Waitakere NZ teaches us how dead trees are a life system for other life forms: slaters, cockroaches, millipedes, wetas, spiders live on the decay.

Tags: Arataki, Arataki trail, Arataki Visitor Centre, Auckland, bug, bugs, Centre, cockroach, dead, dead tree, death, decay, heaviest, insect, life, life form, life system, live, local, local bug, millipede, Nature, nature trail, New Zealand, NZ, outdoors, prehistoric, range, regional park, sights, sightseeing, sign, slater, spider, system, teach, tourist, trail, travelblogger, tree, visitor, visitor centre, Waitakere, Waitakere ranges, Waitakere Ranges Regional Park, Weta

Posted in History, National and State Parks, Nature, New Zealand, Travel, Walking Tour | Comments Off on New Zealand: Waitakere – Life From Death

New Zealand: Waitakere – Weta in New Zealand

Tuesday, December 24th, 2019

Look closely and you can see a live Weta which lives at the Arataki Visitor Centre in Waitakere NZ. Wetas are so old that they have outlived the dinosaurs. They’ve hardly changed in 100 million years. They are nocturnal and are among the heaviest insects in the world. There are about 100 different varieties of Weta in New Zealand.

Tags: Arataki, Arataki Visitor Centre, Auckland, bug, bugs, Centre, heaviest, insect, local, local bug, Nature, nature trail, New Zealand, nocturnal, NZ, outdoors, prehistoric, range, regional park, sights, sightseeing, species, tourist, travelblogger, varieties, visitor, visitor centre, Waitakere, Waitakere ranges, Waitakere Ranges Regional Park, Weta, world

Posted in History, National and State Parks, Nature, Travel, Walking Tour | Comments Off on New Zealand: Waitakere – Weta in New Zealand

New Zealand: Waitakere – Inside the Arataki Visitor Centre

Tuesday, December 24th, 2019

You just never know who you might meet when you travel. This wooden sculpture of a male is inside the Arataki Visitor Centre and Himione Heketarere is carved on the bottom.

Tags: Arataki, Arataki Visitor Centre, Auckland, Centre, city, Heketarere, Himione, Himione Heketarere, local, male, Nature, nature trail, nature walk, New Zealand, NZ, outdoors, range, regional park, scenery, sculpture, sights, sightseeing, south, Tasman, Tasman Ocean, tour, tourist, travelblogger, visitor, visitor centre, Waitakere, Waitakere ranges, Waitakere Ranges Regional Park, wood, wooden

Posted in Art, History, National and State Parks, Nature, New Zealand, Travel, Walking Tour | Comments Off on New Zealand: Waitakere – Inside the Arataki Visitor Centre

New Zealand: Waitakere – Views from outside the Arataki Visitor Centre

Tuesday, December 24th, 2019

From the Arataki Visitor Centre in Waitakere, you can see the Hauraki Gulf (Pacific), Rangitoto, and north past Auckland city centre. If you gaze south past Auckland Airport, you’ll glimpse the Bombay Hills and west will lead your eyes to Manukau Harbour (Tasman Ocean).

Tags: airport, Arataki, Arataki Visitor Centre, Auckland, Auckland Airport, Auckland city centre, Bombay Hills, Centre, city, city centre, Gulf, harbour, Hauraki, Hauraki Gulf, local, Manukau, Manukau Harbour, Nature, nature trail, nature walk, New Zealand, North, NZ, ocean, outdoors, pacific, Pacific Ocean, range, Rangitoto, regional park, scenery, sights, sightseeing, south, Tasman, Tasman Ocean, tour, tourist, travelblogger, visitor, visitor centre, Waitakere, Waitakere ranges, Waitakere Ranges Regional Park, West

Posted in History, National and State Parks, Nature, New Zealand, Travel, Walking Tour | Comments Off on New Zealand: Waitakere – Views from outside the Arataki Visitor Centre

New Zealand: Waitakere – Hotel Weta

Tuesday, December 24th, 2019

Outside the Arataki Visitor Centre in Waitakere NZ, you can often see a local bug, the Weta in this hotel especially built for them. The second image is what they look like. Wetas are over 100 million years old (they knew the dinosaurs!) and haven’t changed much in all that time.

Tags: Arataki, Arataki Visitor Centre, Auckland, bug house, bugs, Centre, hotel, local, local bug, Nature, nature trail, New Zealand, NZ, outdoors, range, regional park, sights, sightseeing, tourist, travelblogger, visitor, visitor centre, Waitakere, Waitakere ranges, Waitakere Ranges Regional Park, Weta

Posted in Architecture, History, National and State Parks, Nature, New Zealand, Travel, Walking Tour | Comments Off on New Zealand: Waitakere – Hotel Weta

New Zealand: Waitakere – Entrance to Arataki Visitor Centre in Waitakere NZ

Tuesday, December 24th, 2019

This impressive 11-metre high pou (post) stands outside the Arataki Visitor Centre as a guardian to the centre and Waitakere ranges. The whakairo (carvings) are carved from Kauri trees by Te Kawerau Maki, the local mana whenua (guardians of the land). The story it tells is of their ancestors.

Tags: ancestor, Arataki, Arataki Visitor Centre, Auckland, carved, carving, Centre, entrance, guardian, guardians of the land, Kauri, Kauri tree, land, local, mana whenua, New Zealand, NZ, post, pou, ranges, sights, sightseeing, story, Te Kawerau Maki, tourist, travelblogger, tree, visitor, visitor centre, Waitakere, Waitakere ranges, Waitakere Ranges Regional Park, whakairo

Posted in Architecture, History, National and State Parks, Nature, New Zealand, Travel, Walking Tour | Comments Off on New Zealand: Waitakere – Entrance to Arataki Visitor Centre in Waitakere NZ

US: Seattle – Curds (and Whey?)

Monday, December 16th, 2019

You can watch the process of mixing cheese curds through a window near Piroshky Piroshky (pierogies).

Tags: baked goods, bakery, cheese, cheese curds, city, city of seattle, curds, downtown, downtown Seattle, food, foodie, pacific northwest, perogies, pierogi, Pierogies, Pike's Peak Market, Pike's Place Market, Pikes Place, Piroshky, Piroshky Bakery, Piroshky Piroshky, piroshky piroshky Seattle, PNW, PNW food, Russian, Russian bakery, Seattle, Seattle Center, Seattle eats, Seattle food, Seattle waterfront, sights, sightseeing, things to do in Seattle, tour, tourist, touristy, travelblogger, Washington, Washington State, whey

Posted in Drive I-95, Food, Seattle, Travel, United States, USA, Walking Tour, Washington State | Comments Off on US: Seattle – Curds (and Whey?)

US: Seattle – Piroshky Pierogies

Monday, December 16th, 2019

In Seattle, WA you can get so many kinds of food in or near Pike’s Peak Market. We have a weakness for pierogies.

Tags: baked goods, bakery, city, city of seattle, downtown, downtown Seattle, food, foodie, pacific northwest, perogies, pierogi, Pierogies, Pike's Peak Market, Pike's Place Market, Pikes Place, Piroshky, Piroshky Bakery, Piroshky Piroshky, piroshky piroshky Seattle, PNW, PNW food, Russian, Russian bakery, Seattle, Seattle Center, Seattle eats, Seattle food, Seattle waterfront, sights, sightseeing, things to do in Seattle, tour, tourist, touristy, travelblogger, Washington, Washington State

Posted in Drive I-95, Food, Seattle, Travel, United States, USA, Walking Tour, Washington State | Comments Off on US: Seattle – Piroshky Pierogies

US: Seattle – Wings over Washington

Monday, December 16th, 2019

Thought this was chicken wings joint as it is in the area of the Pike’s Place Market in Seattle. Boy was I wrong – it’s a flight simulator which focuses on scenery rather than stomach-churning dips. The life-like soaring vignettes from the ocean to the forest to the mountains are enhanced by effects like a light mist spray near Snoqualmie Falls and a pine scent in the woods.

Tags: aviation, city, city of seattle, city view, cityscape, downtown, downtown Seattle, effects, emerald city, evergreen state, flight simulator, forest, market, mist, Mountains, ocean, pacific northwest, Pike's Place Market, Pikes Place, pine, pine scent, PNW, scenery, scent, Seattle, Seattle Center, Seattle waterfront, sights, sightseeing, simulator, Snoqualmie Falls, special effects, spray, style, things to do in Seattle, tour, tourist, touristy, travelblogger, vignette, Washington, Washington State, wings, Wings Over Washington, woods

Posted in Drive I-95, Entertainment, Family Fun, Seattle, Travel, United States, USA, Walking Tour, Washington State | Comments Off on US: Seattle – Wings over Washington

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Archive for the 'Walking Tour' Category

It’s surprising to find this peace and quiet in this amazing location outside the Arataki Visitor Centre in Waitakere so close to the bustling city of Auckland. These steps take you eventually up up up to the sky view.

We liked it when this sign on an Arataki trail in Waitakere NZ teaches us how dead trees are a life system for other life forms: slaters, cockroaches, millipedes, wetas, spiders live on the decay.

You just never know who you might meet when you travel. This wooden sculpture of a male is inside the Arataki Visitor Centre and Himione Heketarere is carved on the bottom.

From the Arataki Visitor Centre in Waitakere, you can see the Hauraki Gulf (Pacific), Rangitoto, and north past Auckland city centre. If you gaze south past Auckland Airport, you’ll glimpse the Bombay Hills and west will lead your eyes to Manukau Harbour (Tasman Ocean).

Outside the Arataki Visitor Centre in Waitakere NZ, you can often see a local bug, the Weta in this hotel especially built for them. The second image is what they look like. Wetas are over 100 million years old (they knew the dinosaurs!) and haven’t changed much in all that time.

This impressive 11-metre high pou (post) stands outside the Arataki Visitor Centre as a guardian to the centre and Waitakere ranges. The whakairo (carvings) are carved from Kauri trees by Te Kawerau Maki, the local mana whenua (guardians of the land). The story it tells is of their ancestors.

You can watch the process of mixing cheese curds through a window near Piroshky Piroshky (pierogies).

In Seattle, WA you can get so many kinds of food in or near Pike’s Peak Market. We have a weakness for pierogies.