Day trip to Rangitoto Island

Today, we went tramping on Rangitoto Island with about 50 other international students. Rangitoto island lies a a 45-minute ferry ride from Auckland, and is one of the least modified of about 50 volcanic cones and craters in the Auckland volcanic field. Rangitoto erupted from the sea in a series of dramatic explosions around 600 years ago, and is now extinct (so take it easy parents - we've not been balancing on the edge of a crater filled with boiling lava). It dominates the local seascape and the visit was like stepping into another world. The island is a public reserve and is famed worldwide as a botanical germ.

Many of the plants we found on Rangitoto are unusual hybrids, like the tree-perching epiphytes, which grow on the ground and sub-alpine moss cushing thriving at sea level. The island's predominantly pohutukawa forest is the largest one in the country. Things we saw and did included:
Summit views
The enormous volcanic crater
Lava flows (stoned)
Caves
Gull colonies (noisy!)
World war 2 sites (bunkers)
Coastal & forest walks.

All in all, this was a really nice day with really nice weather and really nice people!

A really nice view from the top (sorry 'bout the small-sized images, our bandwidth is limited)

The wharf

Is this a good shot of Rangitoto or what?