Lina climbs a volcano...

Today, I was off on my own to explore Rangitoto Island, the youngest vulcano around Auckland. It last errupted about 600 years ago.

When I got to the ferry terminal, I realized that the next ferry would leave in an hour and a half, so I decided to stop by Devonport again, and then take the ferry to Rangitoto from there.

In Devonport, I stumbled upon a Farmer's Market. Every Sunday, they sell bread, cheeses, chocolate, vegetables and fruits, honey, fish, and much more.
I bought yummy sourdough bread and chocolate covered strawberries, and then I looked around Devonport some more. There are a lot of cafes and restaurants, and many little stores, that I didn't get to look at yesterday.

I went back to the wharf and took the ferry to Rangitoto Island.
From the Sky Tower, Rangitoto looked like a symmetrical, grey island. Up close, however, one can see that it is mostly covered in dense Pohutakawa forest. Pohutakawa trees show bright crimson flowers during the summer months (December, etc), that's why they are often called "Christmas trees."

The summit of the vulcano is roughly 250 meters above sea level. One can climb it in about an hour. There are also some other walks that take a little longer, but I decided on the summit walk, because the last ferry was going to leave at 4 pm. If I wouldn't be back by then, I would have to camp out on the island for the night!

The walk up to the summit was pretty easy, and there were lots of lookouts on the way up, where one can see panoramic views of the surrounding harbor and some other islands. Most of the pathways were made up of volcanic rocks.

At the top, all the visitors (not many, during this time of the year) had a great view of the Auckland skyline and the harbor. Also, I could see Devonport and its two volcanoes.

The Maori call New Zealand "Aotearoa," which means "The land of the long white cloud." From the top of Rangitoto, I could definitely see a big cloud hanging over the mainland and the skyline of Auckland. Maybe this is what the ancient Maori saw when they first sailed towards the North Island?

I took a walk around the crater of the vulcano, which is by now completely covered in forest. It still looks impressive, though.

At the summit, I met a Brazilian tourist, and we decided to explore the Lava Caves together.
The Lava Caves are big enough that one can walk through them, but they were also really dark. We didn't have flashlights, so we didn't walk all the way through the caves.

We caught the second-to-last ferry back towards Auckland (so no need to camp out on the island!).