Rotoroa Island

Formerly used as a rehabilitation facility for alcoholics by the Salvation Army, Rotoroa is conveniently located just next to Waiheke island - an island famous for its dozens of vinyards and wineries. Do you love the irony of that? I certainly do! ^^ Rotoroa has a great size, you can easily explore the whole island within one day. A Scottish girl and I certainly took our time with the south track and decided to go faster to have enough time to check out the north track. That was BEFORE we discovered areas of black sand on Men‘s Bay. We just had to take a whole hour to play with it and build a family of snowmen - made of sand. Sandmen?
There are lots of birds to discover on the island! For example, the famous kiwi. Which is nocturnal. So we didn’t see it. What we did see, however, was a Weka (woodhen (the brown feathered guy)). Lots of them, in fact. Also, we saw Takahe (the two fat birdies). Takahe are an endangered species with only 500 birds remaining worldwide. Around 6 of them on Rotoroa island. Unfortunately, a bird couple broke up and are in the process of getting a divorce, as we were told. They have to be parent-trapped, though, to procreate and ensure the survival of the species. Fascinating, isn‘t it?
Late in the day, we took the ferry back to Auckland and had a good look at the volcanic island Rangitoto - an island that just appeared one day about 600 years ago. Man, I wish I had been there… So cool!
In other news, I am now a car owner. My white Toyota IST from 2002 is ready to go exploring with me. Only problem, the car isn‘t blue. I‘m still processing. ^^Read more