Climbing up a volcano! 8/1/2011

Today we took the ferry over to Rangitoto Island, it is a Volcanic Island with no population. 

Sturdy shoes were needed for climbing the volcanic rocks, and plenty of water and lunch because there are no shop facilities.  

It was 1 and a half hour of hard climbing to get to the top but the view once we got there was well worth the effort.  Eating our packed lunch while looking at the wonderful view of Auckland was amazing.

  

Afterwards we did the 15 minute walk around the crater rim track. 

We then started to descend towards McKenzie Bay and Beacon lighthouse which was another hour of walking but this time downhill.  Once we got there we had a surprise, there was a lovely little beach with the most crystal clear sea water,  we had our swimmers with us so it was blow privacy to the wind and change! How we enjoyed that cool clear water after all the walking we had been doing. 

No time to hang around as we had to get back to the Harbour before 5pm when the last ferry left.  We had another 2 hours walk to get there.  Made it!!!!!

Once we got back to the hotel it was wash the volcanic ash off of our sneakers, and have a nice shower.

Foot Note:

We want to thank Virgin Active Gym because without their training we would have had a hard time doing a day on a volcano!