a signal station for shipping, artillery emplacements and various concrete army bunkers, some from as early as the 1870s.
The red and white air vents camouflaged as toadstool on Mt Victoria were secretly painted by a couple of Devonport youths in 1988. I shudder to think if there was an air raid, the red color would give away what they are.
On Sunday, we crossed the Auckland Harbour Bridge and went to Devonport and drove up the summit of Mt Victoria. Named after Queen Victoria, the hill provides panoramic views of Auckland's Waitemata Harbour and the inner Hauraki Gulf.
Over the years the peak and upper slopes have housed a signal station for shipping, artillery emplacements and various concrete army bunkers, some from as early as the 1870s.
It has been used extensively for defence and still has the typical bank and ditch pattern of a Maori fortified site, as well as 19th and 20th century bunkers and ammunition storage tunnels which can be explored, and guns aimed out over the harbour entrance.
A newly opened park above Narrow Neck Beach is Fort Takapuna Historic Reserve which has in the past housed both Navy and Army.
This place holds nostalgic feelings for me. When my late father in law came almost 30 years ago, I drove him and made the same trip as I did on Sunday. He was very game and climbed down the bunkers. I did too with my eighteen month old daughter D.
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