After visiting the museum, the rain slowed, so I decided to visit the Rangitoto Island!! This is the view of the harbor...
It took around 40 minutes by ferry...
Rangitoto Island was formed by a volcano, which became extinct 600 years ago... Rangitoto means "bleeding sky" in Maori .
On the way to the island I met Basile, a french ultra marathon runner, and together we planned to run a big portion, passing through the most scenic spots on the volcanic island.
On the volcano's path, we ran for almost 2 and half hours!!
We kept a good pace, but always enjoying the environment!!
We had to stop several times just to admire the scenery!
On the 1920's the island was also an important military base...
A beautiful military base!!
Along the way we passed many people climbing to the summit!
The rain went out!! And blessed by the sun, our adventure was even better!!
Certainly one of the best paths I ever ran!!!
We stopped at some volcanic caves, but without a flashlight we couldn't explore deeper...
The directions were well marked and we also had a map on hands, but we could not contain our excitement on running through the whole island!!
As a result, we could spend only 5 minutes at the summit, because the last ferry was leaving in 20 minutes and we did not wish to learn what happens if someone misses the last ferry of the day!! lol
The map indicated 1h45min walking time from the summit to harbor and we were not sure if we could make it in only 20 minutes... So we ran and we ran faaaast!! Descending with rocks in the path and some sharp downhills, I almost lost my footing several times over the 22 minutes trip.
The ferry was there!! whew!!
The ferry was there!! whew!!
In the end, thinking about our adventure, where we ran for 2h 30min yet only spent 5 min at the summit... I remembered the saying, "journey is what bring us happiness, not the destination..."
And I was reaaaly happy with all that great work done to summit the volcano!! :-D
Not only that great work climbing the volcano, but also trying to get to the Olympics!!
Thanks God, I can persist in that endeavor!!
Thanks Renata, Maire, Sergey and Amili for the amazing times in New Zealand!!
Taking advantage of the new year wishes, I wish all the readers a 2012 plenty of adventure, sports, happiness, love, friends and achievements!!!
Feliz Ano Novo!!
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