"Find life experiences and swallow them whole. travel. meet many people. go down some dead ends and explore dark alleys. try everything. exhaust yourself in the glorious pursuit of life."

Friday, July 15, 2011

Rangitoto Island

  Yesterday we took a twenty-five minute ferry ride from downtown Auckland to a remote island called Rangitoto.  As the ferry pulled away into the harbor, the Auckland skyline grew smaller and smaller on the horizon.  We passed a few smaller islands as we neared our destination.  The rocky faces of Rangitoto shone black through the hazy afternoon sun. This island is covered in volcanic rock; the last eruption was around 600 years-ago.  After a short one hour hike, we reached the summit which offered 360 degree views of the Auckland Harbor.  The sky tower poked up through the clouds.  For the past week I have been hearing things about how Auckland is the best city--if you travel thirty minutes in any direction from downtown, you can reach countryside.  I didn't really understand how amazing that really is until yesterday when I stood atop the summit. After a few hours, we jumped back on the ferry and headed back to the city.  It was a very strange sensation to go from such isolation to the hustle and bustle of the city in such a short amount of time.  A completely different world stood a mere ferry ride away.

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