Half Moon Bay Marina

We're off on another village bus trip today.  This time it's a tiki tour and a visit to a marina.  The definition of a tiki tour is a scenic ride, possibly with no particular destination in mind, or, if you're going from point A to point B, that you would take the long way around so as to maximize the opportunity to gaze out the windows.  The Half Moon Bay Marina was impressive. There were signs up about the chance of meeting seals, but despite my careful search, I never found one.  

That's Rangitoto of course in the distance.

Half Moon Bay is to the southeast of Auckland, and the view that you get of Rangitoto is different here than what you'd see from downtown.  Here, you also see the island of Motutapu, which lies next to Rangitoto. They seem to blend into one.  They are separate, however.   

Here is the map of the two. It also shows some hiking trails, but I have included it only to show you the two islands, and how close the are together.  

Motutapu has been there for ages (about 178 million years, give or take), while Rangitoto, as many of you know, is only about 700 years old, born of a volcano. I find it interesting that Rangitoto grew and grew during the eruption, but stopped just short of touching Motutapu.  Today, there is a short bridge (causeway) between the two.

This is Motutapu. It was first settled by the Maori.  According to the encyclopedia, there are now six residents of the island.  I haven't done further research on the subject, but Wikipedia has quite a nice article if you care to look it up.  

Some interesting clouds. 

Here we are returning to our village. After spending time at the marina, and having our tour and lunch in Howick, we are somewhat tired but satisfied.  -djf