Haare Mai

Thursday 27th November

Mel had a job interview yesterday and it went really well she was just about offered the post but because she couldn't drive a manual car we are waiting to hear if they will move on grounds of a disability but it seems unlikely.But the experience was good to have and we have to keep plugging away.

After last weeks effort at the quiz night in the Masonic,we decided to have another go sure that we could do better than second to last. Turned out we were wrong and came second to last again but it is great fun and in our defence most teams have 5 or 6 members!!!

We awoke this morning to the news of all the terror attacks in Mumbai which hit home to us as we had visited there on our trip and sat in Leopolds (the cafe) a big backpacker hangout it all looked terrible and out of control.Then there was the coup in Thailand which was also crazy to hear about,it seems the world is getting crazier by the minute.

The question we had today was,what shall we do and one thing stood out literally and it was a trip to Mt Rangitoto (the extinct volcano) to climb to the summit for great views of Auckland.It is just across the water and only takes 10 minutes by ferry.It sits majestically off the Auckland coast with a fascinating landscape with lava caves and native bush. At the jetty it was posted on th eboard that a walk to the summit would take approx 1 hour.

Rangitoto literally means "bloody sky" and is a reference to an injury to a chief during a battle on the island. We followed the path which was loose under foot with small pieces of hardened lava that have probably been around for over 600 years.It was a hot day and the climb was moderate so we were both pleased to reach the top in around 45 minutes,as it was a weekday there weren't too many people around and the views of Auckland and the Hauraki Gulf were amazing especially on such a sunny day.

We had planned ahead and sat at the summit enjoying our lunch and a well deserved bottle of cold water taking in the views and watching the bees buzz around.It was good to stand on top of the volcano as we had seen it everyday since arriving here and we got to see Cheltenham beach from a different perspective.It took us longer to descend than it took to get to the top and we couldn't work that out but we made it back in time for the final ferry of the day and didn't get stranded on the island.

Lots of love

M & M

xx