A Trip to Cornwall Park

So about a mile or so away from our house is a large park called Cornwall Park that is my usual place to go running. In this park they have a variety of animals roaming around including cattle, sheep, and roosters. The park has a very nice visitor's center and museum, maybe two restaurants, and an observatory. In roughly the center of the park is "One Tree Hill" which oddly is not a hill with a tree on top of it, but rather a hill with an obelisk monument to the Maori people on it. On Sunday, Scott and I walked to the park and had a picnic lunch. The weather was fantastic! It was a wonderful day!

Scott and cattle.

Me and "One Tree Hill".

It is quite a steep trek to the summit.

The base of the monument.

The monument.

One of the spectacular views from "One Tree Hill". The Auckland Sky Tower is in the distance.

Another awesome view with the volcanic island of Rangitoto in the distance.

We are talking 360 degrees of view!

This is the view from the grassy terrace where we ate lunch. We had to find a good spot because there was a LOT of sheep poop!

After lunch I asked Scott to run across to the other side of the valley so that I could take his picture. [Note: Tiny figures in middle of slope are not Scott but some inconsiderate people ruining our picture.]

And he did!

Me and a sheep.

More cattle on our way out of the park.

P.S. This is a Pohutukawa tree known as a kiwi "Christmas Tree" because it blooms bright red in December. They still decorate evergreen trees here though.

:) Jen (and Scott)