Rangitoto Island

On Thursday, 05.01., we took a trip to Rangitoto Island. We learned about the island from our travel guide and it sounded like a beautiful experience. We had already seen the most important things in the city, so we could now visit a real volcano. Rangitoto Island is the youngest volcano in the region and last erupted 600 years ago. This is basically recent in volcano history and there are even eyewitness reports from Maori who lived there at that time. The volcano is currently inactive, but we learned the day before that something can still happen at any time. It was a bit creepy, but we didn't want to miss the opportunity to climb a volcano.

In the travel guide, we read that you don't need a whole day for Rangitoto Island, so we slept in a bit, walked leisurely into the city, and got some information at the visitor centre. We found out that a ferry to the island would leave in 15 minutes and that it was the last one of the day. After that, only return trips were available. Luckily, we arrived in time! Before we could board the ship, we were briefly afraid that we wouldn't fit because the lady at the visitor center said that it was first come first serve and that the weather was very nice today. But thankfully, everything worked out and we enjoyed a nice 25-minute boat ride to the volcanic island.

On the island, we walked the path from the terminal to the crater viewpoint, which is 260m above sea level. The walk was 2.3km long and we passed many Pohutukawa trees (known for the area and currently blooming in bright red) and areas where no vegetation had taken hold yet, so we could see the black lava stones very well. I had never seen anything like it before and found it totally fascinating!

After only half of the walk, we had a super nice view of the coast, but the view from the very top was truly breathtaking. We had a 360° view and could see both the city and the Hauraki Gulf and the neighboring Motutapu Island. Up there, we had something to eat and then it was time to go back down. We still had some time until the last ferry, so we made a little detour to the lava caves, which are a few hundred meters away from the actual walk. The caves were created when the outer layers of a lava flow hardened while the inside continued to flow. Now you can explore the narrow caves with a flashlight. We had imagined them to be a bit bigger and as soon as we were a few meters in, it was quite scary, so we didn't go very far. Only one cave had an entrance and exit on opposite sides, so we walked through that one. Overall, it was a cool experience and worth the detour!

The ferry back to the city left at 4:30 p.m. and from there we walked back home. For dinner, we later had high-quality "hotdogs" made from sausages, ketchup, onions, and toast bread. They looked really strange, but they were actually quite tasty :D

The next day, our campervan adventure began and we could explore New Zealand up close! :)