Sunday raid on the Peninsular

It's Sunday and this afternoon we decided to go to hunt a few parks on the 

Te Atatu Peninsula. According to my secret park list there were six barked parks that were suitable. I noted the addresses and worked out the route. 

At about 2 pm Gareth and I set off to the first venue, Lone Tree Park. 

It was in the middle of a flash load of houses and it looked promising. We spent about 40 minutes and I came away with $4.30 spending and an old 20 cent piece. Gareth also found old currency, a 5 cent coin, as well as $2.30 cash.

Next up was the main park just off the shopping centre, It was an overcast afternoon but the park was too full for us to venture forth, so we had a quick feed of filled rolls and moved on. 

The attractively named Durham Green is a cool small park on a big lawn like area. There are a few very old large trees that dominate one side of the common and when the ground softens up we will check the ground around them. They look like good shade trees used for many a year. The park though pleasant was not very abundant for me. A solitary 10 cents was my take over the 30 minutes we were there. Gareth did better with 60 cents and a large star pendant. Just a trinket but a nice find for him. 

The next two parks both lacked a bark playground, I think my secret list must have been sabotaged. So we ended up at Taipari Strand Park on the Henderson Creek. A lovely park and very quiet. 

My finds there included a brass button with a star stamped on it, my second American cent in a few days, a old 10 cent and $1.40 in spending. By far the best park of the day as far as varied finds go. We were there for an hour or so. 
Gareth pulled out 60 cents in spending too as well as four hair grips.


We still had another park to visit but decided to save it for another day. Our backs were aching and home we headed.

Produce from the Te Atatu Peninsula Raid.

I ended up with the few old decimals, a US cent, a brass button and $5.80 in spending. 
Sunday afternoon, always a good time for a sly swing.
Sorry about the picture quality, my new camera arrives next week which will improve picture quality. I hope.

See you out there.

In memory of Gus Nola.

On Friday morning I paused twice in my travels, both times to visit a park that I was passing. I enjoy doing random visits. The first, caught out of the side of my eye, was Gus Nola Park, just of off Summerland Drive in West Auckland. The land was once owned by Gus Nola, a prominent orchardist of the area and the name Summerland has originated from an export apple that was grown by Gus in his orchards. The early Croatian settlers played a big  part of the West Auckland history as they still do today. Babich vineyards also was in the area. Now the land is all one big housing development, moving slowly westward eating up the countryside completely, all except for several parks that have been opened by the council over the years for all the new residents and local detectorist's to enjoy.
It was another hot day and Gus Nola Park was an empty park. I spent about 30 minutes uncovering mainly nails or screws and nothing that stirred me. In eight coins I got 90 cents in spending and an old 1988 20 cent. The weed mat was well stapled down under the bark giving off lots of deep signals, so again I just scraped away the loose bark and left my trowel redundant. A nice park in a nice street.

The Virtruvian Man, a super Euro?

The second park, down Summerland Drive about a kilometer, was Ferngrove Park. Here I had a little more success. First up was what looks like a screw in surround to a car ignition or choke. Then a 1987 50 cents piece from the old currency, the first one I have found. I had forgotten how big they were. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand will still exchange the old silvers for spending, a good thing to know.  An Italian one euro coin was a surprise, dated 2002, the year of the first release of this coin. A nice design featuring Da Vinci's famous 'Virtruvian man". A cool find 10,000 miles away from it's home. But with a mintage of over a 100 million I bet they are spread far and wide.

I'm a little pink tea cup.

I then went for a cuppa, it was about 3 inches down and a little metal tea cup charm off of a bracelet. Again, nothing valuable but nice. It is enamalled pink and has a small row of sparkly decorations around the rim. Or maybe it could be a miniature of a chamber pot.

Next up the screw that is used to tighten up the brakes on a push bike surfaced as did a old mottled badge with a heart on it and a design in the centre that the rust has overwhelmed. 

That was me for they day.

The days inventory.

So an interesting hour and a half. Along with odds and ends from Ferngrove Park another $1.80 of spending was gathered too. $2.70 for the day.

See you out there.