Rangitoto
We woke bright and early – 08:00ish – in order to get up,
buy food and prepare lunch before catching a ferry to Rangitoto (say it rang-ee-toe-toe) an island off the coast
of Auckland. The ferry ride only took approx. 20 minutes and we were treated to
lovely views of other, smaller islands off the coast of Auckland as we made our
way across the teal-coloured waters to Rangitoto.
Once we landed on shore (at Islington Bay Wharf at the East
of the island instead of the usual wharf which is at the southern tip) we
started our walk towards the summit of the island. The signs indicated that it
would take one hour thirty but we thought, based on over-estimated signage in
Australia, that it would take a lot less…it didn’t. We had walked for 45
minutes when we came across another sign, indicating that the summit was another 45 minutes to go. Nicola lost
her walking shoes in Hervey Bay (QLD, Australia) so was in her white plimsoles
which were not ideal on the rocky, volcanic rock path we were on. It was also
seriously hot, but there was an occasional breeze which cooled us down. The
walk itself was quite nice, the island scenery was a mixture of grey-black
volcanic rock and lots of forests.
After perhaps an hour of walking we came across a sign
pointing towards “Lava Caves” so we thought we’d check those out. Along the way
we came across a clearing that gave us a clear view of Auckland CBD, which was
really lovely, and then we headed on to the caves. When we arrived, fifteen
minutes or so later, I ventured into one of the “Lava Caves” only to find that
they were pretty small, very narrow and pitch black inside. I had my rucksack
and Nicola’s iphone torch but the space was too narrow and too dark for me so I
went as far as I felt comfortable and discovered that I was at the end of the
cave; it only extended perhaps fifty feet into the ground. There was a drop
that would take me to the very end of the cave but it was too small a gap for
me to get through; I thought I may be able to get in, but there was very little
room for me to manoeuvre my way back out.
After the caves we decided not to head to the summit (the
view from the summit would have been very similar to the one from the clearing
as the summit was barely higher than where we had got to…plus, I really needed
the toilet) and we headed back to the wharf. The walk took another hour to get
back by which point we were soaking with sweat and pretty tired. We finished
our lunch and some sour worms Nicola bought and sat in the sun soaking up the
sunshine near the wharf. I later discovered that the hour in the sun would turn
my face a tomato colour. I suffered more sunburn in two days in New Zealand
than three months in Australia! Who’d have thought that eh?
We woke bright and early – 08:00ish – in order to get up,
buy food and prepare lunch before catching a ferry to Rangitoto (say it rang-ee-toe-toe) an island off the coast
of Auckland. The ferry ride only took approx. 20 minutes and we were treated to
lovely views of other, smaller islands off the coast of Auckland as we made our
way across the teal-coloured waters to Rangitoto. 
Once we landed on shore (at Islington Bay Wharf at the East
of the island instead of the usual wharf which is at the southern tip) we
started our walk towards the summit of the island. The signs indicated that it
would take one hour thirty but we thought, based on over-estimated signage in
Australia, that it would take a lot less…it didn’t. We had walked for 45
minutes when we came across another sign, indicating that the summit was another 45 minutes to go. Nicola lost
her walking shoes in Hervey Bay (QLD, Australia) so was in her white plimsoles
which were not ideal on the rocky, volcanic rock path we were on. It was also
seriously hot, but there was an occasional breeze which cooled us down. The
walk itself was quite nice, the island scenery was a mixture of grey-black
volcanic rock and lots of forests. 
After perhaps an hour of walking we came across a sign
pointing towards “Lava Caves” so we thought we’d check those out. Along the way
we came across a clearing that gave us a clear view of Auckland CBD, which was
really lovely, and then we headed on to the caves. When we arrived, fifteen
minutes or so later, I ventured into one of the “Lava Caves” only to find that
they were pretty small, very narrow and pitch black inside. I had my rucksack
and Nicola’s iphone torch but the space was too narrow and too dark for me so I
went as far as I felt comfortable and discovered that I was at the end of the
cave; it only extended perhaps fifty feet into the ground. There was a drop
that would take me to the very end of the cave but it was too small a gap for
me to get through; I thought I may be able to get in, but there was very little
room for me to manoeuvre my way back out.
After the caves we decided not to head to the summit (the
view from the summit would have been very similar to the one from the clearing
as the summit was barely higher than where we had got to…plus, I really needed
the toilet) and we headed back to the wharf. The walk took another hour to get
back by which point we were soaking with sweat and pretty tired. We finished
our lunch and some sour worms Nicola bought and sat in the sun soaking up the
sunshine near the wharf. I later discovered that the hour in the sun would turn
my face a tomato colour. I suffered more sunburn in two days in New Zealand
than three months in Australia! Who’d have thought that eh?
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