White Island

It was an early start this morning to get a boat from Whakatane to the White Island (Whakaari). At 9.15 we left the harbour and once out the sea became rather choppy. It was a two hour trip on the boat to get to the White Island and an intersting one! About half the passengers were soon finding the sea swell more than their stomachs could take. The crew were very good at handing out sick bags but they were certainly kept busy. When we arrived at the island we were both just relieved and proud of ourselves (especially Rach) for keeping hold of our breakfast, however we weren't looking forward to the journey back!
We got a small speed boat onto the very impressive volcanic island and climbed ashore. We had to wear hard hats and were also given gas masks for the sulphur fumes. We had about an hour on the island in total and were guided round learning about the volcanic activity. The volcano did actually erupt in 2000 and evidence of the eruption was clear all around. There was also a sulphur flumes and a toxic lake that was illuminous green in colour. The atmosphere and the rock formations made it feel like we were another planet! It was a truly fascinating thing to see and in the future people may not be able to visit the island.
Back on the boat we had some lunch before setting off back to the mainland. Fortunately the journey this time wasn't quite so choppy and only a few people required the sick bags.
On the way back we saw a number of dolphin pods who found our boat very curious. It was fantastic as the dolphins swam past and leaped around in the water right next to the boat.
We got back on dry land about 3.30 and plan this afternoon to go bodyboarding and hopefully catch some good waves!
Tomorrow we head for Napier and have a long drive ahead of us. I'm sure we'll have some more spectacular views along the way as New Zealand is full of them.
Love to all
Rach & Mark. xxx