Rangitoto!

Sunday last, a group of students from my uni accommodation organized ourselves to hike up Rangitoto, a dormant volcano about 30 minutes from Auckland by ferry boat. It's a cool location, because the volcano is the entire island, all volcanic rock and no soil, and yet it's somehow covered with, basically, a jungle. And once you hit the top, there's a great view of Auckland and the surrounds.

We were lucky to have a nice, sunny, not TOO hot day, although the humidity was a bit oppressive. We naturally divided into a few groups on the way up - Lydia and Brodie took the lead and made it up long before the rest of us, although in our defense, they didn't even stop for pictures. I was hiking with Ed and Clare, and a Polish girl named Ola, who was regaling us with tales of her hike up to the Everest base camp (amazing!!). And the rest of the group was bringing up the rear, a good 15 minutes behind us.

Once at the top, we had a bit of a lunch break, hiked around the crater itself, and then decided to explore some of the lava caves on the way down. The first one was great - super dark, and no one brought torches, but we made it through okay. The second required a climb down into a hole, which Brodie, Lydia and I decided against, but some people were quite excited at the prospect.

Including one man, Jim, a 45 year old American here getting some sort of Business PhD. Who slipped on the way down, fell backwards, and cracked the back of his head open! There was blood everywhere, he was white as a sheet, and we were all stunned. What to do?! The island is a natural reserve, so there's no infrastructure to speak of. We weren't sure he could even climb out of the cave, much less hike over an hour down the side of a volcano (a hike that the rest of us, hale and hearty, had some trouble with). Plus, while Brodie has first aid training and Clare is a nurse, no one had a full first aid kit - so instead of a nice bandage, poor Jim had to make do with a sterile bandage held on with a wadded up t-shirt and a pair of linen pants tied around his forehead.

We decided to call emergency, just to find out what our options were, but as soon as they heard that it was a head injury, they decided to send someone. Which meant a helicopter and a rescue team!! Brodie was left to guide the copter in, then we watched a rescue guy rappel down to the ground, guided him to the cave, and let him get to work. There were already a couple of people in the hole with Jim, so the rescue guy tossed down his first aid kit and gave instructions for proper bandaging while discussing evacuation possibilities with his partner in the chopper. Finally, we helped Jim out of the cave and walked him to high ground, and he was strapped into a harness to get him to the copter, and then flown out!

Turns out he didn't have a concussion, but needed stitches and was covered with bruises, so I think we made the right choice, even though he was quite embarrassed by the ordeal. After he was gone, we hiked back down, still had time for a bit of relaxing by the water before the ferry arrived, and then had some nice cold beers on the way back to the city. Other than the drama, it was a beautiful hike with fun people, and a great way to spend our Sunday!