perched on top of mount victoria is a fort named after the 87-meter volcanic cone it is sitting on; with the 87-meter volcanic cone named after the queen. as to who the queen is named after, i have no idea so let’s just leave it at that.

because it is a fort and all, meant to protect the city and its inhabitants from bad elements outside of natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes brought about by the numerous volcanoes — both active and inactive — riddled within auckland volcanic field, it is but right to have at least a little something that can be used as a weapon.

and by “little,” i mean this massive disappearing gun whose barrel weighs a measly 13 tons. according to what i believe is their official website, the gun “used a charge of 110 lbs of black powder to fire a 210-lb shell up to 5 miles” which got me wondering… considering such impressive numbers (and that’s coming from somebody who had to ask her boyfriend to explain all those figures in a way that idiots can comprehend), for heaven’s sake, why the hell is it called a disappearing gun?!  all things considered, it’s highly unlikely for a gun this size to just disappear, you know. neither is it the kind of gun that you can easily misplace.

well, to satisfy my own curiosity, i googled what disappearing guns are and the way i understand it, disappearing guns are called such because they are placed inside a hole and the hole is covered with something to disguise the gun under it. when it’s time to fire the gun, the barrel protrudes out of the hole and then ducks inside again so it can be reloaded. kinda like how peek-a-boo’s work.

so now i understand why i had to go down several steep steps to get into the tunnel which led to where the disappearing gun was. nevermind that such enlightenment only occurred to me now — four months later.

as far as fort victoria goes, that’s pretty much all i can say about it. the weapon (which is its main feature) didn’t really hold my interest because more enjoyable and interesting was the scenery right from the very top.