Cities Built on Fire

Our Cities' Volcanic Foundations

Auckland, Christchurch, and Dunedin - three of the larger cities in this country are built on volcano fields.

Auckland is dotted with some 50 volcanic cones - from downtown Auckland it's possible to walk to any of half a dozen. Although most of Auckland’s volcanoes have long been dormant, in some city neighbourhoods you can still find footpaths and hillsides warmed from lingering thermal activity.  Rangitoto Island first emerged in the Waitemata Harbour a mere 1000 years ago, and last erupted about 600 years ago.

Yet as elsewhere throughout this shaky island, few seem concerned. On almost any given day, children can be seen sailing swarms of tiny P-class yachts around Rangitoto's shores.  In the deeper water, giant America’s Cup yachts jostle for position.

The viewing platform on Rangitoto's summit is one of the city's most popular vantage points. However, as with many of these volcanic cones it is not their geological past which is necessarily most striking. Most are ringed by the remnants of fortifications and terraces which reveal their use in pre-European times as defended forts or ‘pa’. These ancient peaks were as important to Maori as strategic settlement sites between Auckland’s two shallow harbours as for their original role in shaping the land of the region.