Auckland 2 of 5

Rangitoto is a large pancake-shaped island which is about 5.5km in diameter and it is connected to its' sister island Motutap, by a causeway so it is possible to hike across the two islands. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to visit Motutap but maybe we will hike it on our next visit to Auckland. Rangitoto's volcanic landscape is a mixture of with hills, valleys and plains

Rangitoto was bought by the Crown in 1854 as a recreation reserve in 1890 but for the next 30 years the island's chunky, black volcanic lava was quarried and shipped to Auckland by prison labourers and used as a road base. The prisoners also built the tracks over the island and many of the roads

The island has some superb walking trails beginning with easy ones for strolling along and others that increase in energy-level requirements. The Summit Track trail is very popular as it meanders through lava fields, the world's largest pohutukawa forest and involves some long step climbing sections as it rises to the summit of the island. The map which come with the ferry ticket also gives suggested times each trail takes to complete and this was fairly accurate when we trialled it. That is why we knew we'd not have time to do both islands.

Almost the entire surface of Rangitoto is covered in jagged, broken lava. Six hundred years ago when the flowing lava cooled, it became sticky and it congealed. The surface hardened but the lava flowing underneath this surface broke the newly formed congealed crust, into jumbled pieces. These piled up and levees or banks of crusty congealed lava formed along the lava flow. In some areas the flowing larva moved beneath the hardened outer surface and kept flowing until it drained out, leaving narrow twisted lava tubes or caves. Ken was drawn to these cave entrances like a moth to a candle flame but I didn't think they looked easy to negotiate. Ken headed in and reappeared after a while having crawled through without a helmet and only his i-phone torch as a light. He enjoyed the whole experience but I was happy to mind the backpacks. Ken found the caves were dark and the floor very uneven but he was able to walk upright most of the time, throughout the adventure. It's dark in the caves and the floor is uneven, taking a torch is strongly advised. The walls of the lava cave were displayed the orange, yellow and purple colours of iron and sulphur from the eruption and throughout the cave the dangling roots hung from the ceiling. Several other adventures entered the as we continued on our hike to the summit. Later Ken explored another even smaller cave but it was not as easy to negotiate as the first cave.