Rangitoto Island +

 Saturday, February 10, 2018

  Wet, rainy day.  But that didn't stop us.  We decided we wanted to catch that dang ferry to Rangitoto Island at 9:15, so what did we do?  We got up at 5:00 am, left the house by 5:30 am, took a morning hike up One Tree Hill summit to catch the sunset, went to a Saturday morning farmer's market across town (lots of produce I never saw before at a farmer's market - it's a Polynesian farmer's market), dropped off the van to fix a squeaky air belt (the repair place had said after the prior repairs to bring it back for an adjustment if this happened, as this was one of the things they replaced), and then took an Uber to the ferry terminal.  We bought the ferry tickets with five minutes to spare before the ferry took off.  See, we didn't just want to sit around waiting for the ferry.  We wanted to get a few other sightseeing things in as well on my last day!

   We should have known, however, that when we did the hike up One Tree Hill this morning to see the sunrise and saw . . . nothing . . . because the cloud cover was so dense, that the same thing was going to happen at the Rangitoto Island volcano summit.  Supposed to be one of the most thrilling panoramic views ever but we saw . . . . nothing but fog.  It was hilarious.  Especially when coming down the volcano, right at the beginning of the hour hike down, my right shoe sole fell apart and I was basically walking barefoot in the mud over lava rocks, rain never letting up.  Morgan was very concerned, but I said if the hobbits in Lord of the Rings can walk up Mount Doom barefoot, then I can walk down a similar volcano the same way.  She said that Lord of the Rings is a work of fiction.  Well, what does she know, because I made it, ha ha. Luckily, I had a change of shoes in her bag, just in case, so I could change out my wet feet to something dry at the end of the hike.  Morgan had to take this picture:

    We learned a few things.  We learned water-resistant gear isn't completely waterproof.  Morgan was bragging about her water-resistant pants, her water-resistant backpack cover, etc., ha, ha, but the backpack still got wet and she looked as drowned as I did at the end.  She was concerned about her cell phone in her now confirmed non-waterproof backpack and remembered she should have brought on the hike the waterproof case for it that Teri got her for Christmas.  At least she has it for the next hike, so there you go, learning experience.  She also will need to layer water resistant gear.  She said these hikes are all learning experiences and practice for her two Great Hikes.  

   We also learned it's a good idea to carry an umbrella, even on a hike, on a rainy day.  I had wanted to bring along the small one I had in my suitcase that I used a few other times around town on this trip, but Morgan said you don't bring umbrellas on hikes.  So now she has commandeered my umbrella, for future hikes, because yes, you do bring umbrellas on hikes.

   We also learned that other people are just as crazy as us.  There were about 30 other people on the ferry doing the same hike.  No one was complaining.  Most of them had umbrellas.

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    I'm now sitting back in the flat after spending the rest of the afternoon helping Morgan load her van.  Tomorrow I leave for home. After driving me to the airport when we check out at 11:00 am (the first 12-hour leg of my 18-hour flight leaves at 3:30 pm), Morgan is driving two hours to her first farming gig (she will work on a farm for room and board) in Thames.  After a week, she will work on another farm in Rotorua.  She also just got notification that another farm job in Taupo has opened the week after that.  So she may not have to start living in the van until March. She's anxious to start doing that, so she can cross the ferry with her van to the South Island and start touring the country doing "freedom" camping, and hike.  What an awesome experience!

    This is a beautiful country, but I hear home calling me now.  Steve says Marino didn't eat for the first three days I was gone, and sat on the living room couch looking out the window for me until after dark.  Hang on, baby, I'm almost home!