Fort Dorset

Taking my wife to the airport on this beautiful day (despite the wind gusting at 100 km/hr), I decided to go for a walk around nearby Fort Dorset, in Wellington's Breaker Bay. 

I love living in New Zealand, but there is one thing is miss terribly: anything old! Ruins, castles, fortresses, abandoned factories, etc. The most NZ has to offer in this respect, are the few remains of it's coastal defense works. The oldest are forts built during the Russian (tsarists) scare in the 1880's, the later ones from WWII.

Fort Dorset was located in the suburb of Seatoun at the entrance to the harbour of Wellington. Apart from it's obvious military importance, it is one of the most beautiful natural areas of the city. It is also land of Maori significance; formerly the site of the Oruaiti Pa (fortified settlement), an old Rangitane stockaded village near where Kupe landed.

These days there is a large variety of bunkers, gun emplacements, observation posts and other unidentified concrete structures.

The views over the Pacific, the harbour entrance and the entrance to Cook Strait are breathtakingly beautiful. 

Oh, and the beret du jour was the navy coloured Auloronesa in 11 pouces...