When we got up this morning, the grownups packed heaps of food and water into backpacks and we went into Auckland to catch a ferry to Rangitoto.
I was a little worried on the ferry, remembering my first boat ride in Sydney where a huge wave crashed through the window and nearly drowned me. Luckily this ferry was much bigger and there were no waves in the harbour.
It didn’t take long to get to Rangitoto and start climbing. The signs at the start of the track said that it would take 1 hour of walking to get to the top.
The first part of the walk was pretty easy. Luke and I could run ahead with Dad, and then explore the lava fields while we waited for the others to catch up. We spent a lot of time waiting – Milla doesn’t walk as fast as a 5 year old and she was happy stopping at every plant to see if it was prickly or soft, to smell every flower and to look for special lava rocks. Mum was almost as slow, she kept I was taking photos every step of the way.
About 1½ hours into the trek, we detoured to explore the caves. Dad borrowed someone’s head lamp and he followed Luke and me into the caves. The mums and the little kids went through the easy caves and Greg decided to relax for a few minutes (he had been carrying Timothy most of the way up and was pooped) and I think he needed the peace and quiet.
When we finished exploring the caves, we kept walking to the summit. Apparently only another 20 minutes to the top – that translates to at least 40 minutes walk at Milla speed. We started off pretty fast because mum gave Milla another piggy back.
Finally we made it to the top of the volcano and we could see for miles around, and into the volcano. It was pretty huge. It was filled with trees and plants. Although it was beautiful, I think that I would rather see real lava inside the volcano instead of plants. I wonder if they will let us climb up the volcano if the lava was boiling hot?
Climbing volcanos is fantastic; I hope I can climb another volcano soon.
Love AJ Pickle
I was a little worried on the ferry, remembering my first boat ride in Sydney where a huge wave crashed through the window and nearly drowned me. Luckily this ferry was much bigger and there were no waves in the harbour.
It didn’t take long to get to Rangitoto and start climbing. The signs at the start of the track said that it would take 1 hour of walking to get to the top.
The first part of the walk was pretty easy. Luke and I could run ahead with Dad, and then explore the lava fields while we waited for the others to catch up. We spent a lot of time waiting – Milla doesn’t walk as fast as a 5 year old and she was happy stopping at every plant to see if it was prickly or soft, to smell every flower and to look for special lava rocks. Mum was almost as slow, she kept I was taking photos every step of the way.
About 1½ hours into the trek, we detoured to explore the caves. Dad borrowed someone’s head lamp and he followed Luke and me into the caves. The mums and the little kids went through the easy caves and Greg decided to relax for a few minutes (he had been carrying Timothy most of the way up and was pooped) and I think he needed the peace and quiet.
When we finished exploring the caves, we kept walking to the summit. Apparently only another 20 minutes to the top – that translates to at least 40 minutes walk at Milla speed. We started off pretty fast because mum gave Milla another piggy back.
Finally we made it to the top of the volcano and we could see for miles around, and into the volcano. It was pretty huge. It was filled with trees and plants. Although it was beautiful, I think that I would rather see real lava inside the volcano instead of plants. I wonder if they will let us climb up the volcano if the lava was boiling hot?
Climbing volcanos is fantastic; I hope I can climb another volcano soon.
Love AJ Pickle
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