Christmas Eve on Rangitoto Island

Yesterday, Todd, Elena, Lorena, and I took a ferry to Rangitoto Island. Rangitoto Island is about 20 minutes by ferry off the coast of Auckland with a ton of other islands. What's unique about Rangitoto is that it's the youngest  island in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf and that it emerged from a series of volcanic explosions.

The other very cool thing about the island is that it is host to the world's largest Pohutukawa forest. The Pohutukawa tree, pronounced PAH-WHO-TAH-COW-AH, is iconic in New Zealand. It only blooms around Christmas, so it's in lots and lots of Christmas decor. When it's not Christmas, you'll see Pohutukawa designs on pottery, tea towels, stamps, etc. It was pretty awesome for us to see real, living P-KAWAS in their natural environment. I couldn't stop taking pictures of them.

We got off the ferry and headed towards the summit. The island is basically a 3 color island - green plants and tress, red Pohutukawa flowers, and black lava rocks. Honestly, the rocks looks like piles of dirt or manure, but they are hard as rock (ha ha) and full of holes and lighter than you might expect rocks to be.

 The hike to the summit took us about an hour and a half at a relatively leisurely pace with a stop to explore some lava caves. There were great views back to Auckland from many points along the way. It was a bit of a gray day which was good, because we might have died if it was sunny. We still got a bit sunburned through the clouds.

 At the summit, we ate our packed lunch and took a well-deserved rest. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches never tasted so good.

 Instead of heading down the way we came, we walked down and around the side, walking right along the coast of the island. It took another two hours to make to back to the wharf and starting point. This gave us (ok, Lorena and me) just enough time to take a nap while Todd and Elena played cards before the 3:30pm ferry (and final one of the day) arrived to take us back to Auckland.

Another good day and another excellent bargain for $20.

P.S. Todd, Elena, and I went to midnight mass at the Cathedral of Auckland which was right down the block from our backpackers, and did you know that NZ's tune for "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" is different from ours? 

Merry Christmas from New Zealand!