Rangitoto @ Top Tracks.info

Taking the tracks to the left (west to McKenzie Bay) or right (to Islington wharf) do enable you to reach the summit along less steep paths, but will take considerably longer. The benefits of the longer routes are that you get to see much more of the island. The track to McKenzie Bay (recommended time of 2 and a half hours) is a road and continues to behind the summit and back to the wharf. This makes for relatively easy walking. From this road to the summit is board walk, including some steps, and is a welcome change from the loose scoria surface of the tracks. At the summit a loop track takes you around the sizeable crater providing great views from the island. A viewing platform provides an opportunity to appreciate the crater itself. There are seats and shelter for having a break, and to take time to view the views.
Close to the summit are some lava caves while not spectacular for glow worms or formations, are fun. There are two of around 100m where it is possible to crawl or walk through. Follow the green and yellow marker pegs. A sign indicates the end of the track to avoid confusion. Torches or some form of light will be needed. So you want to go? Check the Fullers site, but there are usually three return trips a day, the first departing from Downtown Auckland at 9:15am (Devonport 9:25) returning 12:45, 3:30, 5:00 (or the next day if you miss it). Guided tours are also available. Costs are $18.40 adult, $10.40 child, and Seniors $16.40
Gear needed: • good walking shoes (tracks are scoria so very hard on shoes and feet), • drinks, the scoria absorbs heat from the sun easily, so in summer it is a very hot place to walk. With no shops or cafés on the island, take plenty of fluids to avoid dehydration. • lunch and snacks, • sunhat and sunscreen, • torch if you want to explore the lava caves by the summit • A good map!!! Many of these are rough guides, the only truly accurate one appears as a pdf on the Department of Conservation web site. Some of the info boards on the info panels on the island are confusing, especially around the summit where there are number of tracks that don’t appear on some maps. It would be very worthwhile, even wise to print the one off the DoC site. And yes, there are toilets, at Islington, McKenzie, the main wharf, and a couple of portaloos on the road near the summit.
Useful websites: Fullers, for ferry times and prices Auckland Regional Council for their volcanic information on the island The Department of Conservation, provides plenty of useful information as well as several PDF's.

Taking the tracks to the left (west to McKenzie Bay) or right (to Islington wharf) do enable you to reach the summit along less steep paths, but will take considerably longer. The benefits of the longer routes are that you get to see much more of the island.

The track to McKenzie Bay (recommended time of 2 and a half hours) is a road and continues to behind the summit and back to the wharf. This makes for relatively easy walking. From this road to the summit is board walk, including some steps, and is a welcome change from the loose scoria surface of the tracks.

At the summit a loop track takes you around the sizeable crater providing great views from the island. A viewing platform provides an opportunity to appreciate the crater itself. There are seats and shelter for having a break, and to take time to view the views.


Rangitoto Island
Visited March 2006
The original Auckland icon, Rangitoto is easily accessible and well worth the effort to go and have a look. While only 600 years old, the island has a wide range of plant life that has established itself in the inhospitable scoria over the last 250 years. Walking tracks over and around the southern side of the island allow visitors to appreciate this relatively new volcanic island.

A twenty minute ferry ride from Downtown Auckland or Devonport gets you to Rangitoto wharf where you have a choice of directions to head, basically left, right or straight ahead, which takes you directly to the summit. There are shorter walks and sheltered areas to relax in, but the usual goal is the summit where there are seats and historic remains from the Second World War. There are many informative info panels explaining the history of the island, geology and flora.