Auckland & Greater Region - New Zealand

[jayo 44]

i love all thre info you give.Its quite pleasent lurking in your CJ

Post some SC4 pics

jack

[bartonn 0]

I've always though Auckland had an interesting skyline. Just where the buildings are positioned relative to the terrain shape.

[granto93 4]

i like those pictures, although the Skytower looks much nicer in the game than it does in real life I never pictured Auckland as such a big place but i know nothing eh

now get back to city building!

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Yes well if you actually want really real SC4 shots then I will actually have to find disk 2...  the boys took it out of the CDROM to put their own stuff in - man I just about had anaphalaxis ... that disk is...

....my precious!

[Schulmanator 5,815]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Zelgadis 638]

I rather like the pseudo update. Now that I think about it, somebody should update the CN Tower landmark for the new nightlighting it has. Anyway, thanks for that. It's fun to see comparisons with the real buildings.

ISF

[ky72x 13]

So disaster was averted then? Nice pics again Craig, can't wait for more!

- Kyle

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Well Auckland is sitting over the top of a volcanic hot spot...

*finger twitches over the "make a volcano" button*

[jacqulina 162]

looking out for more my friend and stop slacking with the plop lol

[Fallon144 1]

give us what we demand

[Hester 700]

I say, old bean...what's your next update?? :-)

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Well my friends I am very sorry to say that sometimes what you ask for is not always what you expect.  Please be prepared for an interesting journey...

After many months of minor (and on occasions larger) seismic rumblings, picked up from the numerous seismonitors scatted around the region, the scientists monitoring them could no longer pretend that it was anything other than normal magma displacement in the known hot spot beneath Auckland.

The seismic activity had been showing a general increase over a period of months and the swarm of small earthquakes were beginning to be noticed by the general populace causing a rash of calls to local talkback radio, and concerned discussion on the main TV channels current events shows.  The popular current events show "Everyone's an Expert" began to devote entire shows to the topic.  Everyone from nerdy horn-rimmed proffessors to the concerned granny "down the street" that wanted to know what the authorities were going to do to protect her precious Lladro from the regular swam of earth tremors...

The scientists (and now the general populace) knew that Auckland was going to sooner, rather than later become home to its latest volcano.

It was not a case of if...  it was now a case of when.

The city nervously began to make preparations...  well some did - of course even if you slopped a bucket of magma on someones front lawn, some people would never be ready...

[jacqulina 162]

omg craig thats awefull news how can you really prepare for that sweety

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Well if I can just get freaking Photobucket to work...  they were "under maintainence..."

BTW - I got fed up with page one of my CJ always crashing IE7.... the first set of photos were PNGs until I learned about JPEGs... so I have removed them for now...  hopefully I will get around to converting them to JPEGs and put them back...

So hopefully now we can get on with the story...

[jacqulina 162]

i am also having trouble with imageshack i could not log on

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

The evening of September the 13th was just like any other...  all over the region dinners were cooked, dishwashers loaded, and kids sent to take showers ... (under protest..)



The sun set and the lights of the city of sails began to come on...  lovers parked up at the monument on One Tree Hill.  (This night was different...  when the couples locked lips - the earth really did begin to tremble..)



The night continued on... meanwhile the authorites were beginning to become more concerned with the frequency of the earth tremors...  residents were beginning to become unsettled and the animals in the city were restless...



Slowly the first rays of daylight crept across the land...



The sky lightened, and the tremors became more constant...  like the contractions of an expectant woman.  

The authorites who had been slow to react, finally at 0607, instructed the radio stations begin to broadcasting evacuation messages for the central Auckland area...  Police vehicles began to patrol the streets and issue warning via megaphones.



Yep it was pretty disorganised, and people started running out into the streets, still in their pyjamas, and even more worrying still, many had serious pillow hair.  

Some even fell down the sky blue voids, at the base of the hospitals and into the cosmos below, due to the missing base textures... which had fallen out due to the tremors.

Arrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh.................!




Dawn gave way to early morning.  The populace was now in a high state of anxiety - some people even did not manage to get their morning lattes.  Disaster was looming.



The focal area of concern centred on the area just to the south of Mt Eden and to the South West of One Tree Hill.

Cracks were beginning to appear in the ground on one of the market gardens that had survived the push for residential land.

The distinct smell of sulphur began to drift across Auckland in the early morning breeze.



Then it happened, quite suddenly and with little warning... a vent opened in the middle of Farmer Yellowhat's prize potato field.

It looks as though hash browns are going to be on the breakfast menu...  (Hangi style...  that's food that is cooked underground on hot rocks...)

 

[jacqulina 162]

wow wonderfull pics and work craig isnt your city big now too.i love the night and dusk shots very pretty my friend

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Well it wont be pretty for long with a great hoofing volcano about to burst through the earths crust..

(tag BTW).- smirk / snort...

[granto93 4]

ROFL.....very interesting story craig i cant wait to see the rest

[Voulpiotis 4]

Wooooooooow! Amazing! The city had grown up so much!!!

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

The vent continued to open its deadly rent in Farmer Yellowhat's potato field  ...  early morning commuters began to make frenzied calls to the emergency services....  

"My windscreen is being pelted with sooty potatos...!"



Auckland's newest volcano,  burst through the earth's crust with the ferocity of a teenage pimple the night before the school ball...  the magma...  

Can you say mag... ma readers?

(Lets say it all together...  The Maaaaag maaaaaa.....)

...began a spectacular fire fountain, and lava bombs were thrust into the air, from the bowels of the earth below...  like the sudden release of a fleet enema...

 The sonic booms shattered windows, and caused terror and panic in the city...

Residents tried to calm their nerves by rushing to the nearest cafe to get a latte...  but the volcano had severed a main electricty cable...  there was no power for the coffee machines...

It also severed the main sewerage pipe serving the greater part of the city.

"Now we are really in the poo... " a caller to talk back radio exclaimed!

[Schulmanator 5,815]

Cool!

I must say that I am glad to see it was a volcano that was causing the tremors... not the lovers on the hill locking lips! Don't come a-knockin' if the ground is rockin, eh?!

I am not EVER going volcano watching in NZ... I like fire fountains of MAGMA not ENEMA!!!!!!!!!!!

Fear not! I will send some care packages to beleaguered residents: I have large brown boxes full of emergency supplies... a recent missing plug in provided me with many brown boxes which are suitable for inter-CJ transfer.

As for the distinctive sulfur smell floating about - I must apologize.... I had a large serving of beans earlier today....

:-P

[Hester 700]

What a treat these pictures are, old thing. I was looking for the sudden release of the Fleet enema when I re-read and found you were speaking of magma. Hot stuff. Magma that is.

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Thanks guys... Look out for another update soon... I have all the pictures ready to go now... but we mustn't have too many at once... you might all get sore tummies on the feast!

We must pace ourselves!

... been beta testing my new training power point today - so I naturally had to see what my CJ volcano, looked like, projected onto the wall of my office...

Well that was fun...

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

The volcano burst forth from beneath the earth's crust with a cataclasmic firey vengence.  Farmer Yellowhat's market garden was consumed by the relentless force of nature manifesting itself from the depths below.  The fire fountaining volcano greedily consumed the surrounding buildings, roads, and infrastructure.

News crew helicopters buzzed like flies around a dung heap...  live pictures were broadcast to international news feeds, such as BBC world and CNN.   Coverage of the disaster became "must see" viewing worldwide.  Those Aucklanders fortunate enough to flee and escape the confines of the narrow roading isthmus choke points, made their way out of the city, stopping to calm their frazzled nerves, at the first cafes they could find, desparate for a decent latte...

The lava breached the crater rim and flowed, consuming without mercy anything that stood in its way.  Buildings, roads, rail, underground services such as  power, telephone, water, gas were all destroyed in the immediate vicinity.

 

Buildings burned out of control, agricultural chemicals and fertilizer mixed with water from the broken watermains and created a very dangerous toxic combination.

(*Mental note to self - check the underground waterpipes next time you play the city..*)

Emergency services strugged to contain the fires.

All the while, the news helicopters continued to buzz, providing their saturation news coverage.  At its peak the fire fountain reached hundreds of feet into the air.  Smoke and ash began to blanket the city.

The fire fountain finally diminished, and the volcano bellowed its choking smoke and ash into the crisp spring air.

The deep rumble of explosions could be heard all over the city.  The earth continued to shudder with its feverish ailment.

The crater cooled slightly bringing a different colour to its molten contents.

Stricken buildings continued to burn themselves out.

With a last deafining explosion the remaining buildings yielded to natures force.  

The red border disappeared from the civil defence authorties screens who had been watching the event from the safety of the emergency control bunker.  The volcano quietened... for the moment.

Was this the end? - would the volcano now quieten and cease its environmental torment?

Will Aucklanders ever be able to get a decent latte again?

Stay tuned ...  more to come.

[suplado! 23]

brave firefighters...even a volcano eruption wont stop them...lol

anyway nice pics of the volcano...

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Yeah and don't even think of standing between an Aucklander and their latte... 

(I would take the Maaaaag maaaaaaaa) if I were you...

[WackoJak 0]

"AHHH CRAIG" the people scream

"O HOW THOU HAST RETURNED!"

It's been like *maths* it's been nearly a month! or two?

Anywho, I'm soo sorry i haven't replied recently but I want you to know, Auckland has never left my bookmarks.

I love watching people run from magma, I often disassemble my own cities for my sadistic pleasure muahaha!

[ky72x 13]

Nice shots of the volcano, Craig. It was nice to see it in stages instead of just being able to see the aftermath of it or just one shot of it. Hopefully the volcanoes have ended though. It was cool to see all of the destruction, however. Keep up the excellent work!

- Kyle

[Schulmanator 5,815]

Cool! I am gonna fly over with marshmallows and graham crackers & chocolate to make some s'mores! Yummy igneous s'mores.... can't beat the flavor!