The Integrative Stream

Island Living on Waiheke and Rangitoto

Spent yesterday afternoon and evening on the island of Waiheke, in the Auckland harbor. It’s a substantial little island, with about 7,000 widely scattered inhabitants, a 40 minute catamaran ride from the city center. One of the managers at our client lives out there, commuting in daily, and invited us for a tour and a traditional kiwi barbecue. The barbecue turns out to be just like the American version, except the wine is better and there are some nuances with the sausage. We all had a great time, and took the last ferry back to town a bit after midnight.

One of the highlights was a tour of Stony Batter [sic], a World War II fortification overlooking the Pacific. The fort consists of hundreds of yards of tunnels, dug in two years entirely with pick and shovel. A massive gun emplacement guarded the approach to the island. The complex is almost entirely underground. Approaching it, you walk almost a dirt road for most of a kilometer, with a fenced in cow paddock on your right and a whole herd of sheep, well, right there on the road with you. There’s almost no sign of the fort until you’re right on top of it.

Another high point for me was seeing the Southern Cross; Auckland has enough light polution that I haven’t been able to see the stars. I’ve been in the southern hemisphere before, but circumstances always seem to conspire against my seeing this particular constellation. Waiheke is far enough out that views are unobstructed, and it was a pretty clear night. So that was cool.

Today we took another ferry out to Rangitoto island and climbed to the top of the volcano. It’s about a 75 minute hike, and the grade is pretty easy except at a couple of points. The volcano last blew about 600 years ago, so there are still lava flows everywhere and the caldera is almost perfectly conical. You can see the whole bay from the top, and the city skyline in the distance. Definitely worth doing.

We were originally planning on doing the hike tomorrow, but we switched our plans around at the last minute. When we got to the ferry terminal the boat was still there, but as we were buying the tickets they shoved off. The ticket saleswoman told us no worries, picked up the radio, and the ferry stopped, reversed engines, and came back into the dock, at which point we raced on, to bemused looks from the passengers who had actually gotten their acts together in time to make the first departure. Great customer service.

Quite a few additional photos in my Auckland flickr group, which you can get to by clicking on the picture above.