Rangitoto Island, Auckland
One night, a husband and wife, who were Tupua (children of the Fire Gods who lived in Auckland), were quarrelling and cursed the goddess of fire, Mahuika.
Upset about this slight, Mahuika complained to Mataoho, the god of earthquakes and eruptions. He punished the squabbling couple with an eruption of such force it not only swallowed the Tupua’s home, but also thrust Rangitoto up from the ocean.
Erupting approximately 600 years ago, Rangitoto Island literally did explode from the sea, spewing forth 2,300 million cubic metres of lava and 19 million cubic metres of ash.
Now extinct, it’s astounding that anything grew on this acrid base of black lava crumble. With no soil whatsoever, the 5km wide volcano should have remained a bald protrusion, caustic toward all life forms.
But it didn’t. Life spawned on the basaltic rock, and today, the walk to Rangitoto’s 259m high summit is lined with 200 species of native plants, and more than 40 types of fern. New Zealand’s largest remaining pohutukawa forest also grows here.
Purchased by the Crown in 1854, Rangitoto became a public reserve in 1890. The first wharf and a track to the summit was built seven years later, but it was in the 1920s and 30s that Rangitoto really came to life.
As new roads, stone walls, and even a tide-fed swimming pool were built, so too were a scattering of small baches. Erected on crown-leased sites, they were home to a small community of holiday makers who turned Rangitoto’s blackened base into a festive summer destination.
Some of these dwellings still remain. Maintained by the Rangitoto Island Historic Conservation Trust, a number have now been restored to their former glory; a tribute to the small community once abuzz on Auckland’s largest volcano.