After our adventures in the Bay of Islands, it was time to return to Auckland and pick up about 20 additional tour mates. This Contiki tour was a modular one, so people were joining and leaving over the whole course of the trip. In fact, after I left Queenstown, the tour continued for another 3 days without me! This made the whole trip both more dynamic because new people joined frequently and much harder as it felt like you were constantly saying goodbye to cool people. In Auckland, we added a few Canadians to the squad of a handful of Americans and Europeans vastly outnumbered by Australians. But before meeting our new tour mates, we stopped at Bastion Point on our way into Auckland.

Auckland is not just the largest city in New Zealand but also one of the most expensive cities in the world. It is ringed by 48 active volcanoes as well. That’s right – it sits in the center of a literal ring of fire. The most famous and a symbol of New Zealand and Auckland herself is Rangitoto with its distinctive symmetric shape.

From Bastion Point, where the photos in this post were taken, you can see out across the city and harbour, and the views are simply spectacular.

Title quote: Johnny Cash, “Ring of Fire”