Auckland 3 of 5

The walk was full of surprises. Sometimes the track meandered through fields if lava remains and then up steep moss covered-root strewn trails or through fern gullies.

At one point we came across an old army bunker- a remnant of old WWll installations built on the island in 1939. The inscription stated that:"A few weeks after NZ entered the war Rangitoto was closed to the public and the island became a restricted defence zone with American and New Zealand servicemen based on the island. Few of the sites were ever operational; much of the equipment was obsolete as soon as it was installed but the presence of over 1000 servicemen provided the psychological effect of having coastal defence site was comforting to the locals on NZ's main islands." There was an excellent view across the island toward Auckland from inside the bunker.

Not far from this old relic we climbed a wooden stairway to Rangitoto's summit where several hikers their packed lunches and enjoying the 360° view over, across and around the island as far as the horizon on one side and with breathtaking views of the harbour and Auckland city. It was ever so peaceful and one of the highlights of the walk.

We spent some time relaxing on the wooden benches built within the huge timber platform that has been built to protect the emerging vegetation that is slowly covering the island. We carefully placed our orange peel, apple cores and plastic wrap inside our zippered backpacks ready to place in the recycling bin on the return ferry trip as there are NO bins on the island.

Leaving this peaceful and scenic spot, we took a side-track route on the way back down the mountain, via an extremely long descending wooden stairway through a magnificent forest (what a contrast to the stunted trees and bushes we'd walked past earlier. This stepped-track followed the coastline of the island and provided clear views back to Auckland for most of the trail. Further down the mountain the track passed through an old rock-wall once erected to protect army equipment in the 1940's.