Rangitoto Island

We have a few smaller islands near us that we've been wanting to explore. After looking at the weather and seeing a warmer & partly cloudy day forecasted for Saturday, we decided to jump at the chance and explore the volcanic island nearby. We got up bright and early to catch a ferry from downtown to take us to Rangitoto Island. Unfortunately, the weather decided to change on us that morning and we left the port wondering if we chose poorly. It was cold, rainy, and windy. But we weren't going to let a bit of poor weather dampen our spirits. By the time we got to Rangitoto, it had slowed to a mist and the temperature was actually pretty perfect hiking weather.

Rangitoto Island is a small island that is uninhabited. It only has 2 bathrooms on the entire island and no homes or shops. It is a pest free zone with only birds and skinks as the native animals. We were excited to explore this interesting island. We took a track up to some lava caves and to the summit of the island. The track was sandwiched with black lava rocks. It was cool to see the piles and piles of rolling rocks. We veered off to another track and we felt like we entered a little fairy land. We were surrounded by tall mossy trees and cool rocks covered with draping greenery. Reese even tried looking for some friendly little fairies. We much preferred this trail. We arrived at the lava tubes and took turns going through them. They weren't huge caves, but it was still fun to explore. We then headed to the summit of the island where there was a huge crater. It was pretty neat to see and visualize what it must have looked like as it erupted long ago. If it had been a clear and sunny day, the views from the top would have been breathtaking. Unfortunately, it was still a bit cloudy and we could only see a little of the coastline and water. We were all pretty beat at this point from all the walking so we decided to head back to the dock and catch the ferry home. After all was said and done, we ended up walking 9k (5 1/2 miles)! Little Reese did amazing and walked all of it but a small bit at the end. We have learned that if we don't want complainers, we just need to keep the kids talking about something they love and that usually involves lots of convo about iPad games =)

New Zealand was celebrating 75 years of their Navy so we were lucky enough to see lots of battleships in the bay on route to Rangitoto. The kids loved seeing the missile launchers and cannons up close. Our day turned out differently than we imagined, but we still had a fun time and loved seeing somewhere new. We made lemonade out of lemons and created some good family memories.