Rangitoto
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| Rangitoto Island with the sun out days later |
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| 600 year-old lava |
Our first day we had an afternoon tour
of Rangitoto Island. A short ferry ride across the harbour brought
us to this lava based island which erupted from the sea floor about 600 years ago.
Today it is still covered in lava as it apparently takes about a 1000
years for soil to develop. Lots of natural floral and fauna some
being very rare and over 400 native plant species with 40 different
fern types, grow on the island. The Pohutakawa is just starting to
bloom and will have the island covered in red blossoms just around
xmas.
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| At the top of Rangitoto |
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| Kids try the water |
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As we jostled along the lava made road,
the guide told us the stories how the island became under the
protection of the government. Several people in the past tried to
change the island by introducing foreign animals and plants, but were
stopped as it was destroying the natural vegetation that they wanted
to preserve. We first stopped at the base of the summit cone for a
climb of 300 steps to get to the top to see the crater.
Unfortunately, this was a cloudy showery day and couldn't see much at
all, but we did get to the top. From here we viewed more terrain on
the western side of the island and stopped for a few minutes to walk
on the lava.....not easy.... before returning to the wharf.
A few “batches”, (basic cottage no
running water, electricity) remain on the island with no permanent
residences. You can tour the island yourself with many tracks and one
to some lava caves, to explore which we didn't have time for. One can
even backpack and stay on the island camping with you bringing and
taking away everything you need.
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