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Monday 30th Nov
I caught a train to Auckland from Papakura at around 9 in the morning, and checked in to my hostel for the night…Nomads Fat Camel on fort street. Pretty cool place ay. At reception I was able to buy both my tickets for Rangitoto ($24) and Waiheke ($30) Islands. I set sail for Rangitoto at 12.30pm, and it was a 15 minute boat trip to the island, which is situated just outside the harbour. Rangitoto is the most recent and the largest of the approximately 50 volcanoes of the Auckland Volcanic Field. Rangitoto was formed by a series of volcanic eruptions between 600 and 700 years ago.
Rangitoto is Māori for 'Bloody Sky', with the name coming from the full phrase Ngā Rangi-i-totongia-a Tama-te-kapua ('The days of the bleeding of Tama-te-kapua'). Tama-te-kapua was the captain of the Arawa waka (canoe) and was badly wounded on the island, at a (lost) battle with the Tainui iwi (tribe) at Islington Bay. The volcano is not expected to become active again.
As the boat sailed up to the ferry port, there was a sense of it being a scene from Jurassic Park, it was really eerie. The walk up to the summit though was awesome, a really tough climb but the views on the way and at the top were just amazing. A really cool view of Auckland, but also looking down the sides of the volcano were pretty spectacular! The walk took me about an hour to the top, and from there I met a German backpacker called Paul, and walked around the crater rim at the top, again some pretty cool views. It was pretty cool to be stood on this volcano and know that it is only 800 years old. From the crater rim we walked down the slopes to the Lava Caves, which had been made naturally by the lava flows during the eruptions. We walked through a couple of the caves, and they were pitch black inside! After that we had to near enough run down to the ferry so that we didn’t miss the last trip back to Auckland (3.30pm).
I got back to the hostel and just chilled all evening.
Tuesday 1st Dec
Again, an early start to the day! I left my hostel at about 10am, and caught the earliest ferry over to Waiheke Island. The island looked beautiful as I approached in the ferry, and I could not wait to get on it and explore. As soon as I got there I looked around for the bus to get to the hostel, however I got there 5 minutes after the last bus left and the next one wasn’t arriving for another 45 minutes…so I rented a scooter for $50 for the day. That took me back a few years getting on there haha. The hostel was easy enough to find, Hekerua Lodge http://www.hekerualodge.co.nz/ pretty sweetaz place to stay, easy to access everywhere on the island too. I think the scooter helped big time though, as I would be able to go everywhere in my own time and spend as long or as short in each place as possible.
My first place of call was a vinery called Te Whau, which is supposedly world renowned for its wine. The scenery up there was so nice, I spent ages just enjoying it. You had the option as soon as you got off the ferry to do a wine tour, but that didn’t interest me, so I didn’t manage to taste any wine…one bottle was on sale for $6,500! Crazy.
After Te Whau, I visited Onetangi beach, just as the foggy weather came in…heat fog though. I had a hot chocolate at one of the beach front cafes, before scooting myself away from the heavy fog and slight drizzle…not something you’d expect to hear from NZ this time of the year! I visited a few more beaches on my way back to the lodge where I had a quick bite to eat and a chill out. There was a small high street not too far away so I had a look around, and ended up buying a fishing rod and reel for $60 (cheap as chips!) so spent the afternoon fishing at Kennedy Bay, where the weather was perfect…sunny and warm. I managed to catch 6 or 7 small snapper (which weren’t keepers) and headed back to Hekerua lodge for a BBQ with the other backpackers.
Weds 2nd Dec
Woke up early as I had to take my scooter back, so I did a bit of fishing at the ferry wharf and then at a place called fishermans rock…possibly the worst place I’ve ever fished at, sea weed everywhere, so I gave up on that and walked back to Little Oneroa beach on a coastal path before getting a bus back to the ferry terminal. Today it was raining but like a warm drizzle, I was used to cold rain back in England, so I could get used to this warm stuff ay.
I got back to Auckland, and got a train back to Panacea (where John works) and got a lift back home with him. Not an exciting day, but I enjoyed getting out to see both Islands. I would have stayed an extra day but the weather wasn’t great. Plus I needed to get back home in time for the weekend…
Thursday was just a chill out and relax day, getting washing etc done.
I just wanted to apologise the long wait getting these updates on, they're like two weeks overdue! I've been busy and having a great time as you can imagine...and when I'm visiting these places I try not to use the internet too much as i just want to enjoy being here as much as possible. At the moment I'm using my time at John's house as a catch up period which is why I'm so behind. I'll try my best to update as soon as I can tho ay :-) So guys please be patient...I can imagine you all checking daily and there hasn't been any new updates recently haha.
Enjoy
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