Auckland: A city with a labyrinth of underground caves

Almost as terrifying as Naples https://www.bbc.co.uk/future/article/20240321-the-risk-of-vo...

Is it like Naples with its Campi Flegrei?

The Auckland Museum has an interactive exhibit where you can go into a little house and watch a (fake) news broadcast. It shows a suburb with a view of the ocean and then suddenly one of the underwater volcanos erupts which causes the house exhibit to shake and the lights flicker.

It's pretty neat and worth a try for anyone visiting Auckland. Having lived here my whole life, I can say that the news broadcast is refreshed every few years and is portrayed by our actual prime time news anchors (from our state broadcaster)

Yeah but it hasn’t erupted in ages, she’ll be right.

As an Auckland resident we tend not to think if it much, except when walking around because the city is entirely built in hills.

That 1866 map on the Wikipedia link is stunning, I remember being shown it during a Phyisical Geography class at the University of Auckland, the professors comments at the time where something along the lines of "probably okay, but also might not be" - as if. The fact Rangitoto (a giant shield volcano smack bang in the middle of the City) is c. 600 years old is incredible - its an absolute baby on the geological record.

New Zealand is a ticking time bomb for natural catastrophy, whether its Taupo (or the wider Central Platuea), Aucklands field awakening from its momentary sleep (there are occasionally small disturbances), a quake in Wellington or god forbid a Tsunami coming from the Hikurangi or Kermadic trenches. New Zealand has been relatively lucky for its short inhabited history when taken against its status as a highly exposed member of the Ring of Fire.

What the hell ... there must be close to 50 of them listed on that page. I had no idea - it's like a volcano nursery!

I feel you're probably injecting that in there haha! :) I think they're just saying there's sacred spaces and others and there's different uses for each. Quiet contemplation versus parties: different :) hahahaha :)

This church rave in the 90s (I too miss that time a bit! Where I grew up it was 61 regent st haha! :)), was it an active church or a disused one, or don't know? Haha! :)

That's respect for Maori culture. Which pretty lame for country so pragmatic and atheistic.

Maori science [0] is being reintroduced in schools too. And while it's not some woowoo science it still feels forced, almost like a brand for big corps.

There's 0% Maori culture in my day to day life unless it's some business trying to be hip (see: AirNZ cabin safety videos).

0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mātauranga_Māori

Yeah, that is fascinating. good point. Is it impossible that there were humans there a loooong time before who then left/died out? Would be interesting too haha :)

There was rapid cultural evolution among the Māori as well; consider the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pā#Gunfighter_pā . I don't know if they came up with bastions independently or swiped them from the Empire, but, having been used to full and frank discussions among themselves, they certainly adjusted quickly to artillery.

> The British used to think the bayonet was the most lethal of all hand to hand combat weapons, till they came across our warriors, who fought with the Taiaha. You think your fist is your weapon? When I have taught you, your mind will be. —??B

Kiwi here - Here's something cool: My grandparents (both still alive but over 100) grandparents were among the first settlers here in NZ.

Not the very first to land, a few decades after that, but early enough that they had to build a single room shelter out of clay and mud, and hunt in nature for food. Now, as I sit on the 20th floor in an air conditioned flat with gigabit ethernet, I overlook the city, and marvel about how quickly a country can be built up from nothing.

One other thing that is interesting, my grandparents were farmers their whole lives and only recently retired, when they started farming they were still using horses, and now their farm has computer controlled, almost entirely automated combine harvestors, they themselves often tell us they cant believe the rate at which farming automation advanced - they manage an enormous farm - so big I dont know the boundaries - with less than 10 people because of all the automation. It's pretty impressive to a non-farmer like me.

> It was an untouched bird paradise.

Not quite entirely birds, but no land mammals except tiny bats. Humans made their mark pretty quickly and destructively. As a New Zealander, this to me is one of the saddest pages on the internet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_New_Zealand_species_ex...

As a New Zealander that travels a bit, even with modern technology I can say that it's bloody hard to get to and from NZ (read: it's close to nothing).

Incredibly impressive that people were able to find NZ on boats. I can hardly navigate a few streets without GPS.

> Fascinating to think that only hundreds of years ago there was an entirely uninhabited country.

There wasn't; there's no such thing as an uninhabited "country", since countries are political entities.

There's lots of uninhabited land; the amount of uninhabited land in the United States alone will be many times the size of all of New Zealand.

Just wanted to say, I adore Maurice Gee, "The Halfmen of O" left quite the impression on me as a child. Great quintessential New Zealand sci-fi novels from a fantastic mind.

And the children's series, which made its way to the United States during Nickelodeon's bundle series, The Third Eye.