New Zealand Part 6: Aukland, the End of the Road

If you happened to be keeping track, it may have seemed as if I'd forgotten to finish my long series of posts about our trip to New Zealand, but fear not, patient readers. I am here to supply you with the long awaited, if anti-climactic conclusion.

We stopped in Aukland on an overcast and windy day. Instead of a grown man dressed as a dolphin or a teenager in a hobbit wig to welcome us at port, we were greeted by immigration sniffer beagles who presumably were trained to make sure we were not going to smuggle marijuana or an apple into their fine city. Pot and fruit free, we passed inspection and headed into town.

A friend in Sydney had recently returned from a weekend in Aukland, and she'd recommended taking a ferry out to a volcanic island for a day hike. I was set on that plan, but Partner-in-Crime was less convinced that hiking in this weather was his idea of a good day out. We stopped at tourist information where he proceeded to give the nice clerk a hearty grilling about the logistics of such a plan, and came away more convinced than ever that this island hiking business was nothing he'd care to sign up for. In addition to the cold and wind, we'd arrived too late for all but the last ferry out, which would be followed by one one return ferry about 3 hours later. Missing that ferry meant spending the night on a deserted island and then somehow finding ones way back onto the cruise ship in the next port.

I was sure that it would be more than enough time, and since P-i-C had not devised a better plan for a day in Aukland, I declared that I was a grown ass woman, and would do the hike on my own.

We had a little time to kill before the ferry left, so we took a wander up a main street, lined with shops and cafes. We ended up at an outdoor market and in the company of the Auckland Occupy movement. An Occupationalist got P-i-C's attention and tried to pamphlet him in instructions on global financial policy or somesuch, whereupon I lost my husband for twenty minutes or so, as he turned it around and took it to the next level, giving the bearded do-gooder a long and welcome lesson in Jeffersonian democracy or something equally thrilling.

Having sufficiently occupied the occupiers, I declared my leave and found my ferry.

It was about a half hour ride to the island of Rangitoto, a mountainous emergence from a volcanic eruption only about 600 years ago. In fact, you are confronted with the newness and origins of the island with the fact that almost the entire landscape is black rocks and the vegetation is relatively sparse.

There were a number of hikes one could choose, but the main attraction is to walk to the apex in order to get a great view of Aukland.

It was a good hike, though a bit lacking in variety, as the scenery for almost the entire walk looked like this:

Still, it was enough of an incline that I felt a sense of satisfaction when I made it to the top after about 45 minutes. The first scenic highlight was standing on the rim of the enormous crater at the top of the mountain. You can't get any sense of perspective from this photo, so take my word that it was a really big hole.

From there it was a short walk to the top with the promised amazing views of the city. The bad news, of course, was that I'd picked a terrible day for sightseeing, so my hard-won views were really just so-so, in the cloudy haze. I did try to snap a few shots before making my way back down. They ended more like - I don't know - mood pieces, maybe? On another day, I can see how they would be stunning.

I decided to get clever and take an alternate route down. Map in hand, I felt confident in my grown-ass-womandom and excellent decision making skills. 

Hubris is such a funny thing.

I somehow made a wrong turn, which to this day I would be hard pressed to identify on a map. And so it was that I walked. And walked. And walked. Though there had been plenty of people trekking up hill with me, I did not see another soul on this forlorn path down. Nor could I definitively identify my spot on the map. Nor was there any hope of cell phone reception. I tried to be game and at least find some photo ops, but it was a repetitive view of this on both sides the entire way...

Panic started setting in after an hour, when I was still just seeing what is pictured above, and I began to think that P-i-C's paranoia about missing the ferry had not been for naught. That thought drove me forward, as stubbornly I pushed logic to the fore for the next half hour, reminding myself that the island is a circle, and all paths must eventually lead home. Finally, and before tears set in, the scenery changed, and the ferry dock emerged in more than plenty of time to catch the boat and avoid being stranded. Honestly, there truly had been nothing to panic about, at any point. My imagination had gotten the better of me, as invited by an abyss of volcanic nothingness on the ground and an endless sea of blue-grey above.

I captured a few more photos before finding  my way onto the ferry back into town, and returning to my waiting cruise ship chariot and my prince who was lounging poolside.

We didn't know it then, but Aukland would be our last stop on the cruise (good thing I made it back!). The port at Bay of Islands was closed due to the weather the next day, and so we set course for home, enjoying an extra day of over-imbibing on food and drink and doing our best to avoid the tragically whimsical goings on of the cruise entertainment staff by settling ourselves semi-permanently in the spa. 

Our trek around New Zealand was certainly just a sampler of what we'd like to return to see more of. I feel so lucky to be within easy travel distance of such a beautiful, friendly and fascinating country. Next time, I'd like to conjure up a bit of better weather, but aside from that, mostly I'd like more of what we've just scratched the surface of.