The next morning I woke up at 6am, packed up, took a shower, ate my oats and left the hostel at 6.40am, thinking that I had plenty of time to catch the 7.30am ferry to Rangitoto Island (half price on Sundays). Little did I know.. buses in New Zealand don't start till 8am! Maybe because it was a Sunday, I don't know, so I had no choice but to rush to the ferry terminal and needless to say, I missed the 7.30am ferry. So I bought tickets for the next ferry at full price and sandwiches for lunch. No shops on Rangitoto Island so you have to bring your own food and water!
Rangitoto is the largest, youngest and one of the least modified of about 50 volcanic cones and craters in the Auckland volcanic field. It erupted from the sea in a series of dramatic explosions around 600 years ago, and is now extinct (via doc.govt.nz). It is uninhabited and pest-free. So before you board the ferry, you're asked to brush your shoes against this shoe brush to get rid of any possible stowaways on your shoe. The ferry ride was around 30 minutes and I was nodding off.
Walking up to the summit on a really hot day with a whole lot of other people. Please bring your sunblock and cap and shades, there's not much tree cover along the way so it BURNS. I had a mild sunburn on my shoulders even though I was wearing 3/4 sleeves so you can imagine how scorching hot the sun was.
I ventured off-route halfway to check out the lava caves. It was quite dangerous walking inside because it was pitch dark, I had no torch, the ground wasn't flat, the walls were jagged, so I couldn't really hold on to anything to guide me through the cave. Why didn't I use my phone? HMM good question. After manoeuvring through the cave, at last I see the light~
I had two options of getting to the summit - 15 minutes via summit track which was where I came from or 55 minutes via road. Guess which one I chose.. I decided to take the road less taken (get it? haha). It was a walk through the forest and I was glad I chose this path because it was so much more cooling and peaceful. You could hear the birds chirping and the leaves rustling in the wind.
Viola! The view I came to Rangitoto for. I had my lunch here and then walked back to the harbour to catch the ferry back to Auckland. P.S. If you miss the ferry, you have to sleep on this uninhabited island so watch the time! I sat across this old couple from the UK who were on some kind of old folks travel trip (which is so cool!) and they started talking to me. We talked about growing old (LOL. The man asked me how I felt about it and the woman was like 'I don't think she thinks about it now, she's got her whole life ahead of her.') but it dawned on me just how fast time flies by. Then we talked about Singapore and other random topics. On my way back to the hostel, I helped two lost tourists find their way when I just arrived two days ago HAHA.
Look at how pristine and amazingly blue the water is in New Zealand!!
How to get there?
Take a ferry from Auckland ferry terminal for NZD29.
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