Birthday
Woke up early to watch the sunrise from my balcony and then headed down to the Harbour to catch the ferry to the extinct volcano named Rangitoto which over looks Auckland:
Rangitoto has to be one of the most unique places I’ve been to. It erupted from the sea only 600 years ago, watched by the local Maori people, so in terms of the Earths history it’s only just been born. It’s the largest of the 50 or so volcanos in Auckland, and dominates the harbour. The plantlife here is unique and is even “confused” by the lava island. Alpine plants grow at sea level, trees mosses on the ground, but it’s home to over 200 species of plant and 40 types of fern, and is the largest pohutukawa forest left in the world. The tree has crimson flowers during the summer, and so the whole volcano turns red.
What looks like freshly dug soil, are lava flows which vegetation hasn’t yet developed on:
Still steaming!
The volcano has a pretty busy past despite it being so young. The Maori used it as a look out post, and named it “Te Rangi i totongia a Tamatekapua” – the day the blood of Tamatekapua was shed. Chief Tamatekapua died in battle in 1350, about the time it erupted. It’s known as a “Taonga” or treasure. In 1854 the british paid £15 for it and turned it into a public domain by 1890. It could be argued they did a fair amount of damage to the island, by 1930 many batches or huts had been built, and prisoners had been forced to clear and flatten an area (which can still be seen today) for tennis courts which were never built. A public swimming pool was even built.
During the second world war it was closed to the public and troops were stationed there. Radar buildings and the HQ of coastal defence was based on the volcano, and various fortifications still excist. Auckland then decided to reverse the damage by eradicating possums and wallabies which had been introduced, and refusing to renew leases on any batches left on the island.
It’s now extremely quiet on the island,despite being so close to the city. There is very little bird or insect life because of the comparatively recent vegetation growth. I guess it takes thousands of years for an eco-system to be able to support animal life.
I made sure I was first off the ferry and sraight up the path to the summit. Nearly 300 metres up, and I got these views to myself for about half an hour:
I say by myself, but I was soon joined by these guys:
Named Silvereyes or Waxeyes, they had no fear of landing around me, even on me a couple of times. No doubt they’re there for the food tourists bring up. Apparently they mate for life and use spider webs to make their nests. None of those photos are zoomed in.
Then caught the midday ferry back to downtown, treated myself to some Sushi and headed east along the coast to Mission Bay
The volcano I climbed in the morning dominates the view from the beach, and even some of the local buildings are made from rocks taken from Rangitoto:
Then watched the sunset as I walked back to the city for a meal with friends and a rowdy night out.
As cliched as it sounds I’ll never forget this day…
Comments
Looks like you’ve had a brilliant day. Like you say you’ll always remember your 23rd. The island looks so calm and peaceful. Did you have anything you could feed the birds? Are you on a 100% sushi diet! And have you got pics of your night out?
What a fantastic day out. I would have loved it. All of it. Those silvereyes are so cute. What about your night out???
Happy birthday dude! Looks like you had a sick day of site seeing. (Again) loving your snaps man, what camera you using?
Be cool to see some pic’s of your night out!
Have you found another job yet mate or are you still doing that same job?
It doesnt look like i’ll be coming over soon man as money is tight! But will def try the best i can, cus might get some freelance work over the next few weeks. If i do, i’ll be getting alot of bucks from it!!!!!
will let you know how things plan turn.
latersssss
[...] Dad’s now been here for about two days, and he’s manage to see a far amount of Auckland in that short time. After a snooze to get rid of some of that jet lag, I showed him around the CBD, including the Britomart, Queen’s Street, Waterfront, and Albert Park. We headed up the Skytower for a fantastic meal at the revolving restaurant. As you’d expect the views are totally breath-taking, and we managed to get the sunset followed by all the city’s lights turning on. Today we caught the first ferry over to Rangitoto which I climbed on my birthday back in July. After that, we headed up to the domain park, then down Parnell road to check out work and a Mövenpick. Absolutely exhausted now, but busy day tomorrow. Picking up the rental car and heading North to the Bay of Islands. Here’s a selection of snaps: [...]
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