Hidden and little known places: Oceania

3/5/17

Slope Point Trees of New Zealand: Beauty Created by Force of Nature

There are a lot of unusual sight around the globe, but Slope Point of New Zealand is differently natural wonder. Slope Point is the southernmost tip on New Zealand’s South Island. The place is systematically blasted by great force of cold wind, that causes the trees to bend and transform their appearance. The wind from the Southern Ocean attacked the trees, as they grew. In order to be least resistant, the tree brunches turned to the opposite direction, so they got windswept appearance.

Photo by rosedeane

Slope Point is not inhabited, for obvious reasons, but sheep still wander around. There are a few shelter built by farmers to protect animals from gusty winds.

Photo by Andre Wagner

There is a small signpost, that has the distance to the Equator and the South Pole written on it. Since, there is no road to Slope Point, it takes 20 minutes to reach it.

Photo by Andre Wagner

Beauty created by force of nature, breathtaking steep cliffs and lush fields, will leave visitors amazed; well, in a good weather of course.

Photo by anita363

Photo by oneeighteen

Photo by martindavies63

Photo by Seth Mazow

9/28/16

Unique megaliths of Nan Madol at island Pohnpei,Micronesia.

In the archipelago of the Carolinas included in Micronesia , the island of Pohnpei ( Pohn -ah -pay ) houses ... strange ruins remains of a megalithic architecture unparalleled !

The first human activities date back to the first or second century BC. The construction of artificial islets in shallow water ( on an atoll ) near the east coast of the island of Pohnpei started around 8-9 centuries AD. On a surface of 1500 meters on 500 , there are nearly a hundred small islands separated by canals and surrounded by an outer wall.

Megalithic structures made of blocks of dark basalt shaped hexagonal prisms ( basalt columns ) , arranged in a cross like logs of a hut, were built between the 12th and 13th century, contemporary era to the temples of Angkor and Notre- Dame de Paris . These buildings over 12 meters high and 5.5 meters thick, had a political and ceremonial function at the time of the dynasty Sau Deleur , unifying the clans of Pohnpei .

According to the legend, the basalt columns used in the construction of Nan Madol were transported there by the powers of black magic ... archaeologists have located various careers on the main island , but can not define the mode of transport and construction of this structures .

Most islets had a residential function, some are specialized in food preparation , production of coconut oil or boatbuilding . Without areas of food crops or drinking water , all goods must be imported from the mainland , with a large labor force . The funeral sector , Madol Powe , contained 58 islets , with a center : the islet Nandauwas (Nan Douwas ) , identified by a wall 7.5 meters high and houses the royal necropolis .Just for this royal site , estimated using 4,500 m³ of basalt and 13,500 m³ of filling coral debris, for a total weight of 45,000 tons .

Nan Madol was abandoned with the arrival of the first Europeans in the early 19th century. But the decline of the Venice of the Pacific began in 1450 , with the fall of the dynasty Sau Deleur , under the advent of a different political force on Ponape , or as a result of conquest by invaders from Kosrae ... Regardless, his disappearance is correlated with the development of a very similar site on the island of Kosrae .

The ruins of Nan Madol, and of Lelu, close, are listed as World Heritage by Unesco.