Tuesday 31st August

Today we woke up in Auckland and headed over to the ferry terminal to catch our ferry to Rangitoto Island (a 600 year old volcano just off the shores of Auckland).

The ferry trip was great and the weather was clear so we were able to see the Auckland skyline really well as we departed. After a 25 minute journey we arrived at the island. The young island still has evidence of the eruption, with black lumps of rock (lava) covering its surface. We enjoyed the rather strenuous one hour hike to the summit, where the views were magnificent! We spent some time at the summit, before taking a longer route down to see more of the lovely scenery. After taking the ferry back to Auckland we ate in Mascot's Cafe which was nice (and we had a sundae that actually was a 'sundae' - see our Rotorua posting!). We explored some more of Auckland's centre and are planning to go out to eat somewhere tonight. We are leaving for Hong Kong tomorrow evening so will post again if/when we can.

Only 5 nights left on our trip now and we will be very sad to go home but are having the most amazing time! :)