Rangitoto Island
Rangitoto is a volcano just north of the city of Auckland which erupted in recent human memory (circa 600 years ago). Māori were living on the neighbouring island of Motutapu when the eruption happened. Today, the island is dormant and very well protected as a nature reserve; all that exist are a few baches (summer holiday houses), some walking trails and roads.
We got the ferry over (a 25ish minute ride) and then did this half loop up to the summit and back down along the coast. Thanks to a large cruise ship being docked near our boat's jetty, and the resulting hubbub, we were late to arrive. Consequently we did manage to do this full route, but had to keep up a healthy pace to complete it in time.
The landscape of the island was unlike anything we had seen before. It seemed to be either porous volcanic rock or dense bush, with very little in-between. It had a wild feeling about it.
Before reaching the summit, we stopped at the set of lava caves, the longest of which is 50m long - which we happily walked through. We also explored another tunnel which required more scrambling, ducking, and scraping, but which turned out to be a dead end. That one felt like it went on for a good 20m or so.
On the way up after the lava caves we saw a couple of very vocal tui. This photo is from another pair which we saw on our way down from the summit.
The summit boasted splendid views of the city - see the pic at the top of this post. We drank in the panoramic views and then had our lunch. We were rationing the water, given we still had a couple hours of hiking to do.
I spotted this tiny jumping spider (about half the size of my little fingernail) on a bench. It obviously wasn't feeling very social because it was adamant on facing away from me the whole time I was trying to capture its portrait.
Then as we were descending down the north side of the island, we ran past this little guy - a brown quail. These aren't native; they were introduced in 1866-80. It was at this point we were starting to really worry about getting back to the boat on time. This is also when the trees gave way and we found ourselves marching along in the beating sun when trekking down to the west coast. Rocky, craggy and hot - what walking down a volcano ought to feel like!
And lastly, we made our way across the south shore of the island, where all the baches are. All of which were unique and full of character. And some of which had residents sitting in the shade sipping beer.
We also saw this sacred kingfisher. In the UK seeing a kingfisher is all very exciting, but here it's quite common.
All in all, a fantastic day out. The three applications of sunscreen were definitely needed!