Rangitoto and the sky tower

Woke up really early this morning 05:30am to get the half 7 ferry to Rangitoto.

A glaswegian girl, Sarah, said she'd come with me so we both made our way down to the ferry terminal at about 7ish, the streets were deserted and the sky was filled with thin white clouds it became obvious that it would clear later and we'd get amazing sunshine like the weather forcast said.

The ferry quickly sailed to Rangitoto wharf and we arrived on the gusty cold shoreline ready for a long hike.  It wasn't two minutes after we got off the ferry that I started taking pictures of the scenery.

Young lava flow that will gradually form a beach over thousands of years due to erosion

Me with rangitoto in the background

The plan was to walk around the islands coastline and then take the summit path to the volcanic crater at the top of Rangitoto and then make our way down to the lava caves and then onto the ferry wharf at 2ish.

At first progress was slow as we just wanted to explore the bush and examine the ecosystems created by this new island.  Quickly we both realised how deadly quiet it was, the only organisms around were wirry trees, lichens, mosses, the odd plant and various insects e.g. Flies and spiders.  It was a very creepy atmosphere, I've never been anywhere quite like it.

Such a dense environment the only sounds that could be heard were ourselves and the odd gull gliding above us

We then proceeded to the long coastal walk along the road appropriately named, coastal road.

It was quite a boring walk I have to admit, it went on forever and the scenery was rather rugged and barren, however we did eventually reach a small cove with a black sand beach looking out onto Takapuna.

Me and sarah 

Panorama of the cove

 We then trudged on and walked up the summit path to the summit funnily enough.  Whilst walking I got a couple of pics of the Hauraki Gulf and Waiheke island.

Stairs to the summit

Thenvolcanic crater has been invaded and taken over my vegetation.

However Auckland is still a volcanically active region because it sits over a hotspot in the earths crust. So an eruption may well happen again, in fact scientists estimate Auckland is 60 years overdue for an eruption so I'm sort of glad I'm leaving tomorrow haha.

The bush surrounding the summit and a bit further down was completely different to the bush on the coastline and at the very bottom of the volcano.

There was a wider variety of plant and tree species and also animal life.  I could hear hundreds of birds calling one another and saw many of them flying from tree to tree or hopping across my path to scavenge for food or to return to their nests.

I also found tracks that belonged to possums and wallabies which are new arrivals to the island.  Unfortunately they are not wanted on the island as they are seen as a pest and devour the seeds and fruits that are needed by the native bird and insect population.  The department of conservation has consequently set various traps along the walk ways and in the bush, I saw many of these but luckily didn't see any dead possums or wallabies  

We then had dinner at the summit and enjoyed the views of the Waitemata harbour as the weather changed and the sun started to beam down its nice sun burn giving UV rays at me.  And yes I have burned even though I put sun tan cream all over me every couple of hours, stupid British genes.

Oh and by the way, even though I look sad and or angry and fed up on some of these pictures I'm not.  I just can't smile properly when I'm getting my picture taken, if I do smile sometimes It just looks sarchastic.

Actually looking happy.  That was one of the lava caves

There are more pics on facebook of the lava caves by the way.  My camera is shocking in the dark, so Sarah took them on her super amazing camera.

After our trek in the caves we went back to the ferry and boarded at 1'oclock and sat on the top deck. The ferry started off slow and then went incredibly fast, so fast that sarah could barely hear what I was saying.  She took some pictures of me being harassed by the wind.

Looking fly

A nice hitler youth hairstyle, courtesy of the wind

 We arrived at Auckland harbour at about half 1ish