Today we took a shuttle boat to a volcanic island out in the harbor. We passed by the continuing yacht races on the way. It was very cloudy so the pictures aren’t so great. But the temperature was wonderful, even though it was still quite humid. We spent about 4 ½ hours hiking up and around the volcano and exploring a couple of lava tubes, which are tunnels created by molten lava that had passed through cooled and hardened lava. We hiked about 8.5 miles, so we are feeling optimistic that we might actually survive our future very demanding 10 mile hike.
After returning to Auckland, we treated ourselves with some much deserved Italian gelato. Have to replace those calories we just burned ( plus some )! Tomorrow the real adventure begins – we pick up the campervan and start driving on the wrong side of the road, with the driver in the passenger seat and shifting with my left hand. Being concerned about the safety of the Kiwi’s, I made sure this would happen on a Saturday morning.
