Our first full day back in Auckland was spent by doing a day trip out to Rangitoto Island - a 20 minute ferry ride from the downtown ferry terminal. Rangitoto is a scenic reserve that is completely pest free - meaning no mice, rats, possums or stoats remain on the island, making it a reserve for native birds and plants.
The island is volcanic, and lumpy dry hardened lava covers the majority of the island, along with bush and trees. Thomas, Sparrow and I walked up to the summit of the volcano and checked out some caves formed by lava flows. It was really neat seeing volcanic evidence so close up, very unusual scenery for us Canucks. It was a gorgeous sunny day, and from the summit it's quite easy to see the CBD and harbor, as well as see Waiheke Island and the Coromandel Peninsula off in the distance. Very neat.
That evening back at our hostel, we met a guy from Alabama and a couple from Gatineau, Quebec. We enjoyed several beers and talked about all sorts of things from traveling, food, agriculture, hiking, nature and culture. One of the great parts about staying in hostels is meeting people from around the world (even if they are from the same country as you!) and getting to know the differences in perspectives and cultures.
I can honestly say that I changed a persons perspective on agriculture and how livestock are handled and managed. The amount of misinformation given to consumers is absolutely mind blowing.
Our next day in Auckland was pretty chill. Judith, our friend from N. Ireland who is working in Auckland as an au pere, picked Jackie, Morgan and I up from our hostel and we cruised out to Piha Beach for a couple hours. Piha is a black sand beach, known for it's strong rip tides and great surfing. The scenery is stunning, the ocean a bright turquoise, New Zealand flax grows along the wide, long beach and the sand is hot on the feet because it's black! A pretty cool as afternoon, I'd say! We had supper that night at Judith's place and that evening Judith and Morgan took off to Parachute Music Festival in Hamilton for the long weekend.
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