We’re Not In Kansas Anymore. It’s Rangitoto
It wasn’t a tornado that brought us to this island, it was simply a ferry.
And it was another force of nature that created the island 600 years ago: volcanic.
I’m not sure how they do it, but somehow plants manage to prosper on this island, persevering and extending their roots through the mounds and mounds of solidified pahoehoe.
It’s a good thing too, since it was REALLY hot out there as the black lava rocks seems to absorb all the heat of the sun and radiate it back out in our direction. The trees provided a little bit of cover to cool us off on the hike up to the crater.
It was so hot out there that we even took a detour to cool off underground in the lava tube caves.
Emerging on the other side a tad bit cooler, and a tad bit closer to the summit.
As you can probably imagine, the 1.5 hour hike to the top revealed some fantastic views of the city and surrounding waters.
But we had limited time to enjoy it all as we had to quickly hike back down the long lonely road before we missed the last ferry of the day.
We really cut it a lot closer than we should have, and my feet are still reminding me of that fact today.