The City from Mount Albert

We are living in a place called Mount Albert about 10 minutes drive from Auckland City centre. The "Mountain" of Mount Albert is actually a small inactive volcano. We had a little wander the other day up to the "summit" (not a hard climb it has to be said!) to see the views over Auckland.

Auckland is not a large city by any means (about 400k population in the city and 1.5 Million in the greater Auckland region) but from here you can see the setting for the urban areas - volcanic cones erupt from the huddled settlements and the sea surrounds it all. And in amongst all this sprawl there are farmlands and parks so the grey of the city is intermittently punctuated by vivid greens.

The tallest structure you can see is the Sky Tower - Auckland's equivalent to Liverpool's Radio City Tower. Like that structure, it appears to be loved and hated in equal measure. And I guess whether you like them or not - you can't deny the impact of their presence on the skyline of the two cities. Concrete monstrosity or pinnacle of modernity? You decide...