Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Hi Everyone,
We are so happy, we have finally finished work. Yeah!!! No more kiwis dont know if we will ever be able to eat them again. Its great no more early starts and our hands may start to feel normal again. Do not like having workers hands. We are now back on the road in Bob.
First stop was Whakatane, only about 90km from Te Puke. Nice place backed by mountains with a beautiful harbour but the only reason we went there was to visit White Island which we booked as soon as we arrived. White Island is an active marine volcano. We were up early to catch the boat, it was about 1 1/2 hour trip. Once we arrived we were all given a hard hat and gas mask and shipped on smaller boats to land on the volcano. The first thing you noticed was the smell, it stank and yo could see all the steam coming out of the crater. Argh! what are we doing, only a few days before we had heard how the crater lake was lowering and getting hotter so it is a matter of when not if it erupts. it didnt help matters when in the safety talk the first thing they mentioned was what to do if it erupts!!!! and it was only in 2000 that it last erupted so it is a very active volcano.
The 2 hours we spent on the volcano though were amazing. We walked all around it over old lava flows and volcanic mounds. The best bit was going right up to the crater where there is a lake inside of it (which only appeared in 2003), realised now though why we needed the gas mask. It wasnt just the crater that was steaming though all around the island were areas of steam where the activity is close to the surface plus areas of bubbling mud.
As if the day couldnt get any better on the way home we passed pods of dolphins and even more amazing pilot whales which we really didnt expect to see.
Still on the move
Take care
Tatey and Lou xxx
- comments