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In January of 2021 I came across a blog called Auckland Volcanoes, the owner of which had been documenting their visits to all the volcanoes in the Auckland Volcanic Field. While the blog had not been updated since 2015 and seemed to stop at volcano #49, I was intrigued by this idea of visiting all 53 of Auckland’s volcanoes, so we did a few easy ones that were close by. Then I did a little more digging online, trying to find out exactly where all these 53 volcanoes were, and I came across Volcanoes of Auckland: A Field Guide by Bruce Hayward.
Once I had my hands on this fantastic book, in combination with the very helpful Auckland Volcanoes blog, it was all downhill (or up) from there and we were off on our Auckland Volcanic Field project whether the kids liked it or not. Even if you’re not particularly interested in volcanoes, Volcanoes of Auckland contains an incredible geological history of Auckland. I commend it to you regardless of your position on volcanoes.
Anyway, I finally got around to giving our Auckland Volcanic Field project a home on the web, because my individual Facebook posts were becoming a bit overwhelming. A little over three years have passed since we began the project, with progress was slowed by lockdowns, weather events, injuries and generally being busy, as home educating folks tend to be. I hope to have the project completed before we reach the four-year mark in January next year. Our plan is to visit Rangitoto Island (in my opinion the grandest of the Auckland volcanoes) last of all, but between now and then I have to work out how to get us to Brown’s Island.
Sources
Throughout this project I’ve drawn on the following internet resources.
How to Visit Every Volcano in Auckland by Elaine Smid and Thomas Stolberger – this online guide is cross-referenced to the Volcanoes of Auckland book. It’s excellent.
Wikipedia’s entry on the Auckland Volcanic Field.
Auckland City Council website.
GeoTrips, published by the Geoscience Society of New Zealand.
City of Volcanoes by Elaine Smid.
Auckland Volcanoes by an author whose name I do not know. If this is you, please get in touch via my email (chris at kiwiunschool.co.nz) so I can credit you properly!
DeVoRA, (Determining Volcanic Risk in Auckland) a multi-agency research program by Auckland University volcanologists and GNS Science.