Our Time in Downtown Auckland

After flying from Brisbane and staying at an airport hotel on Thursday morning we caught an Uber to downtown Auckland.
Our hotel wasn’t ready so we checked our luggage and went for walk along the waterfront and West Haven Promenade. There were lots of high end yachts and cruise ships in port.

After that we bought ferry tickets to go to Rangitoto Island the next morning. Rangitoto Island is a volcanic island. It is the youngest and largest of Auckland’s 48 volcanic cones.

The next morning we headed off to the Quay to catch the 9:30 ferry. We were required to be there 1/2hr early for an environmental briefing. They also made sure that each person had brought water, food, sunscreen and suitable clothing or footwear.

Once we arrived we decided to do the 1 hr hike to the summit. It was one heck of a hike as a lot of the paths were through very uneven lava fields. Also a lot of the steps were made from chunks of lava and were not even in depth or height. So you really had to be careful.

The first 45 minutes or so the hike was slowly rising and we didn’t think we were actually going to get to the summit of the mountain. However the last 15 minutes was pretty well straight up and there were a lot of stairs.

Once we reached the top we had a stunning view of Auckland and the surrounding harbours.

After the summit we went down to the Lava Caves, Kidney Fern Glen and Kowhai Grove hikes.

The island is a scenic reserve that they are serious about protecting and keeping pristine. There are no stores, no potable water source, no garbage collection, etc. So you must pack what you need for the day and take away all garbage.

The ferry arrived on schedule to take us back to Auckland and once we arrived we were required to clean our hiking shoes as we left the ferry docking site. It was spectacular day and the weather was amazing.

Finally, this is what you look like after a day of hiking in lava fields LOL