Yesterday (Tuesday), Simon and I had an early start and headed out to Rangitoto Island, just east of Auckland. It's the city's newest volcano, about 800 years old, and sits right in the centre of the Hauraki Gulf.
Viewed from afar, the island looks like it's covered in trees like a rainforest, hiding it's more interesting parts. Because of its relative youth, there's very little soil and instead the ground is made up almost exclusively of fields of black volcanic rock. Paths have been laid down to provide a route to the summit and around the coast, but apart from that it's essentially untamed with no permanent residents or businesses. The weather was probably the best since I've been here and the views from the summit were equally stunning. An interesting point of the trip was the volcano's perfectly circular crater, which you climb up and around to reach Rangitoto's summit.
We came back down and ended up having an hour before the ferry came, so I went for a wander down the coast to take some pictures. It was then that I noticed and read about the baches (I don't know how it's pronounced), which are the houses of those who used to live on the island. Apparently there were around 190 people resident there during the 1930s. These baches are all restored and conserved, fully furnished with period articles, so it's like walking around a living museum; there's even washing on the line outside. It was maybe a little odd that one of the island's highlights was so poorly advertised, but I guess they don't want such a fragile environment overrun with a bunch of tourists.
In the evening, I went to the IEP (the work and travel hosting company) office for a pubmeet that they were laying on. We went to a place I hadn't seen before and we joined in a pub quiz for a few hours. Even though there were about 15 in our group, I hadn't met all but 2 of them before, even though the previous social event was only on Friday. It's great to be able to meet up with completley new people who you have something in common with.
I also picked up a FHiNZ (Farm Helpers in New Zealand) book, which lists farmstays all across the country. Their system works by you working for a few hours a day in exchange for food and accomodation. It seems like a great way to meet the locals and it's of course cheap, so I'll probably do that for my remaining six weeks in New Zealand.
