New Zealand: Auckland and Rangitoto Island

Dates Traveled: 29 December 2012-2 January 2013

New Zealand became the 15th country I've been to (or 18th, depending on how you count the countries of the UK) late last year. I knew I wasn't going to be able to afford the ticket back to the US for Christmas/New Year's but then I heard that my friends Lydia and Martin - classmates of mine from Vermont - were going to be spending a few weeks in Auckland with Martin's family, half of whom live there, for the holidays. I politely asked, not wanting to intrude on their family time, if I could stay with them for a few days, figuring that if I couldn't get home to see family, I may as well see friends in a new country. And with their blessing, I planned my week-long trip, packed my bags and tent, and was on my way.

I flew Air New Zealand for the first time and was giddy with excitement when the Flight Safety Demonstration Video came on because being shortly after The Hobbit came out in cinemas, New Zealand's Middle Earth tourism sector was booming again. The video was well done and includes all of your favorite Hobbit/Lord of the Rings stars teaching you about the safety features of the aircraft. Take a look:

And upon landing, the fun just continues as you exit the airport through a tunnel of rocks presumably from the Dwarf Kingdom and once you reach the baggage claim area you are greeted by one of the Dwarf Lords! I don't think I could stop smiling!

I had a little bit of trouble getting my tent and camping gear through customs. Because both Australia and New Zealand have sensitive native species, both governments to above and beyond the call of duty to make sure you're not tracking foreign-born plants or animals along with you or your gear. It takes an extra 15 minutes when you pick up your bags, but if your stuff is dirty, you'll get a free wash out of it! But soon I was on my way on a shuttle bus into Auckland.

It was almost 9PM when I arrived at the City Road YHA hostel, which was a nasty, dirty, bare-bones hostel, and I was told I'd be lucky to find anything open for dinner, so I quickly stashed my bags in my room and headed out in search of a good New Zealand bite to eat; I found a Manhattan pizza by the slice shop about to close up, but they gave me a few pieces of pie which I scarfed down and then headed out to explore what I could being so late. I took a stroll down Queen Street into the CBD which still had all the Christmas lights and decorations up. It is a pretty city, about the size of Grand Rapids, Michigan, I'd say, though its skyline is more iconic, I think - especially with the domineering Sky Tower which was all lit up at night and rather beautiful! I found a few local pubs on Vulcan and Durham Lanes where I started my New Zealand beer sampling, really enjoying my Moa Original Lager. I didn't stay out too late because I needed to get up early enough to meet Lydia and Martin down at the ferry wharf.

Auckland city skyline from the Rangitoto Ferry. It's an impressive little city, but I stress it is a little city - very walkable and not ever too busy. Quite relaxing, really!

The next morning was Sunday and while it was early, it was not bright and threatened to rain all day. I dropped my bags off at a hostel's storeroom closer to the CBD and waited for Lydia and Martin's ferry from Waiheke Island to come in. And sure enough, right on time, I saw my two good friends, who I hadn't seen since their wedding a year and a half ago in Vermont! It was so good to see familiar faces, especially after a less than exciting Christmas. We went back to Vulcan Lane for a nice breakfast, though we missed our ferry out to Rangitoto Island and had to wait another 45 minutes for the next ferry which gave us a little bit of time to walk around the CBD, do a little bit of souvenir shopping, and catch the next ferry on time.

Auckland is a city built on a series of hills that have all, in their past, been active cones of volcanoes since about 250,000 years ago. Rangitoto Island is the most recent of these volcanoes, having erupted only 600 years ago! Before Rangitoto erupted, there was an island in the harbour, but Rangitoto rose up out of the water right next to Motutapu Island, and Rangitoto is huge! It's hard to believe that this island erupted out of the Earth within the history of human habitation of New Zealand (having been discovered by the Maori people only about 800 years ago!). While mostly forested now, there are still wide expanses of bare basalt (lava rocks) where plants haven't yet colonised. One of the dominant species found on Rangitoto, and throughout New Zealand for that matter, is the pohutukawa tree (PUH-hoo-tuh-KAH-wuh) - a very regal tree with wide, shady, leafy branches and hundreds of bristly red flowers. The pohutukawa is revered in Maori culture and it is now illegal to remove the trees from wherever they grow.

Rangitoto Island from the Ferry Wharf

The ferry ride took about half an hour to get to the island and offered some nice views of the city, though the weather was still threatening rain. Once to Rangitoto we started the relatively short and easy ascent up to the caldera at the top which only took about an hour. At the top, the first thing we came to was the gaping pit that is the caldera of the volcano. It was a bit odd because you typically think that at the top of a mountain there should be a summit, but with volcanoes you get to the top only to look down into that hole. And it was deep! I'm not sure the measure, but I was impressed with how deep it went!

The red flowers of the pohutukawa tree on Rangitoto Island

Because of it's high elevation and unique position guarding Auckland Harbour, a radio station was built as part of New Zealand's WWII defenses and a few of the buildings are still up near the top. The weather was starting to clear up and we were getting our first clear views of the skyline and the rest of Auckland Harbour with it's beautiful islands poking up out of the water, and far off in the distance to the north and east we could see the larger islands of Great Barrier and Little Barrier Islands and the Coromandel Peninsula. If there's one thing I learned about this part of New Zealand it is that volcanic activity makes very large landforms that dominate the landscape around them! And if I thought Rangitoto and the Auckland volcanic field was impressive, I was sure in for some awestriking moments in the days to come.

On the way down from the Rangitoto Summit we followed another short trail to the Lava Tunnels. These tunnels are formed when the very fluid basaltic lava flows down the side of the volcano. The surface of the flow is in contact with the cold air and it forms an insulating crust under which the hot lava can continue to flow. This process forms these conduits or lava tubes which can be large enough to crawl through once the lava all hardens. A great example of lava tubes can be found at Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve in Idaho in the US. We navigated our way through a few of the tunnels and then had to hi-tail it back to the ferry wharf to catch the ferry back to Auckland so we could be on time to catch our ferry out to Waiheke Island.