Catastrophe on the Volcano

A trip to Rangitoto meant a ferry ride and a long, long walk to the top. It also meant hundreds (well almost hundreds) of photos…

• the kids running across the lava fields
• the kids being plastered with bandaids after falling on the lava fields
• the views of the harbour from the walking track
• the kids crawling through the caves
• the kids crying after hitting their head on the roof of the lava cave
• eventually the view from the summit
• looking into the crater
• even Sean and the kids standing on the roof of the hut at the summit
  

As I said, heaps of photos that were taken, then disaster struck.

I had been taking photos with both cameras for the entire walk, and managed to fill one SD card. I changed the card for the new card I had bought. I put the card in and it wouldn’t work – it kept saying card error, unable to read card. Help, what could I do, half of my photo storage wasn’t working. I thought something was wrong with my camera, so I swapped cards and put the card into the little camera. BIG mistake – it didn’t work in that camera either. Not only that, when I put the original card back in the little camera, it reported that it now had an error on it too!

Help – what was I to do, we were only half way through the day and I was camera-less! I had taken heaps of photos on the climb up that I could no longer access. Total disaster! The only photos I could rescue were the ones on the temporary card I used prior to the catastrophe, all 13 of them!

(this is one of my favourites)

Oh well, it looks like we will have to come back to Auckland, just to make another journey to Rangitoto! I don’t think the kids would cope with another 4 or so hours of walking up and down a volcano this trip.

Despite having very few photos of the day, it was fantastic. The walk was fun and all the kids came home with souvenirs – not only of lava rocks and leaves but of injuries. Tim had skin off his elbows from his few minutes out of the back pack, AJ had skin off both his knees and Milla was the champion with scratches to her cheek, stomach and her knees!