Auckland 4 of 5

As the afternoon sun rose high and warm in the sky, we were feeling hot and tired but the trail took us through one of the prettiest areas on the hike. The track descended down through a cool bushy glen. It was full of ferns and a rare kidney fern covered the ground. This fern had a large, very bright green kidney-shaped frond and it was very was quite prolific as it covered the ground throughout the area of the glen. We also noticed lots of snow white coloured lichen dotted across lava scope. This is probably due to the fact that the land receives frequent onshore rains on this side of the island.

Throughout our day of exploring the island, we were surprised to see such a variety of colourful birds, butterflies, various mosses and a huge range of plants and trees. Scientists are surprised that a "newly" eruption-formed island would be supporting so much vegetation so soon after its birth.

However the proximity of Auckland, the high winds that frequent this part of the globe and the range of active sea birds that frequent Zealand's long coastline have all contributed to the spread of wind-born seeds and seeds deposited in bird droppings on the island. High rainfall has meant that lichens and ferns have grown easily from seeds and in times of drought the decaying plants have provided soil for bush and trees seedlings to grow. Today birds live in trees on the island, bees and other insects also inhabit it but it has been pest free since 2011 due to eradication of man's footprint to a limited degree (ie shoe/bag checks) and to the removal of the old mining sheds that once "graced" the area near the wharf entrance for visitors today. One tree that has really taken off on the island is the Pohutukawa tree.

Rangitoto now boasts the largest Pohutukawa forest in the world. Pohutukawa trees also grow in coastal forests on New Zealand's North Island. It's thick and twisted roots assists it in clinging to cliffs and here on Rangitoto, the roots cling to the black conglomerate lava stones that are sometimes piles as high as 2.5 metres. Pohutukawa trees have striking red fluffy-ball-flowers that bloom at Christmastime; hence they are called NZ Christmas trees. None of the trees were in bloom today because December is 3 months away but we did see many other pretty flowers and some unusual groundcovers.