March 18th-20th White Island Tour

This weekend me and 7 other girls rented a van, stuffed ourselves inside of it, and headed off towards the sunshine capital on the north Island! We traveled to our hostel in Whakatane and woke up bright in early to take our full day tour to White Island on Pee Jay boating tours. White Island is one of the only active volcanoes left in New Zealand and it takes about and hour and a half to get to it from the shore of Whakatane. On the way to the island our skipper told us to keep an eye out for marine life since they usually see dolphins playing in the waves that the boat creates. He said that the day before they saw a whale shark and earlier that week they saw a huge Manta Ray. I think it would've been so surreal to see any whales but seeing a whale shark would have been out of this world since they are the largest shark in the world. Once we reached the Island we were given hard hats and gas masks. The hard hats are in case of falling rocks or small explosions which release dense rocks that sometimes contain gooey molten centers. The gas masks were used when we got closer to the crater lakes because the steam contains sulfur which can make you cough and sneeze. One interesting thing we learned about on the Island was that there are two very sensitive seismographs on the the mountain tops that can tell when more violent activity is forming in the volcano as well as feel when their is earthquakes. These seismographs were able to feel the earthquake in the south Island in Christchurch. This equipment is very important because it allows not only scientists to use if for their studies but also allow the touring company to provide the safest environment for people. The touring company called us a night before to inform us that all conditions were safe for that day so we were allowed to go on the day we booked it.

 This is the sticker that was in our car. (it says Keep Left) just in case we forget that need to drive on the left side of the road

 The scenery as we leave Wellington

Whanake board walk

 Statue of a women to represent the strength of the Maori women and their sea-fairing skills

 This island is called Whale Island because of its shape. They said that many scuba divers go there because of all the marine life that surrounds it

 Since the boat makes waves the dolphins like to swim in and out of them. There was one mommy dolphin with her baby that were leaping out of the water in unison but my camera was not fast enough to capture it

 The great apparel we had to wear on the island!

 White Island! Captain Cook named it when he sailed by the island. He named it white Island because from a distance it looked white. However, he did not know it was an active volcano.

 The muddy water is the sulfuric water that is running from the streams and crater lakes on the island

 This is the raft we had to take to get on the island

 The rocks are stained red from the lakes that have high contents of sulfur and iron

 There was many places on the island where steam came out at random spots. There were also many places that felt warmer when you stepped on it. We had to stay clear from a few hot spots that our tour guides feared would collapse

 One stream that had boiling water coming from it as well as steam. It reminded me of dry ice.

 These were one of the mounds that we could not stand on for they could collapse and land us in a nice crater of boiling water

Me, Meghan, and Jill

 Jill, Corrina, Me, and Becca just breathing in the nice fresh air

 That vent was very active with steam as well as very loud when we were near it

 This is the main crater lake. So much steam was coming out of it that you cannot see the bottom. Here our tour guide told us stories about a man that use to work on the crater when the had sulfur miners work here. He said that the man stayed behind one night and in the morning all they found was his boats on top of the hill in the morning. Three stories arose from this incident: 1) he decided to commit suicide 2) (which actually came from his grandson when he visited the island) He was a father of two children and a loving wife and he just simply got too close and fell in, he possibly tossed his shoes up to show that he was down in the crater and needed help but when help came it was too late. 3) He may not have been the most well liked man on the island and his shoes were liked better more than him.

 A ledge that stuck out of the crater. I had to wait until the steam cleared in order to get a picture of it.

 The water in these streams were very warm and were said to be the most pure water and when I put a copper 10cent in the water it came out looking as new as it did when it was first made. Our tour guide also told us to taste the water. To me it tasted like blood when you bite your cheek or tongue (so it tasted like iron).

 The old miners quarters. Since it took 7 days to get back on land they usually lived on the island for months which was pretty good money but very dangerous. They had incidents where landslides came in wiping out the entire place. Only one man survived the major landslide but was seen as a hero when he came back to the main land. They then decided to move the miners shelter to the other side of the island where they, for the most part would be out of harms way. Today, this is all they have left of the old sulfur mining company.

 While we waited for the other people to get on board we ate lunch and had time to swim in the water. Unfortunately, none of us brought our swim suits. However, not having swim suits did not stop a young European couple who simply stripped in front of the entire boat and a 7 year old boy, and jumped into the water. I only saw them swim around the boat but it made me very uncomfortable especially when both climbed onto the boat and took their time drying off.

You can see that the other side is more sheltered and therefore allows for plant sustenance.

 I am in love with this picture because it shows so many emotions! (Me, Jayne, Jill, and Jess) Jess was not happy that we kept this picture haha

 Our tour guide: He had to stop many times to take breaths from his mask because he was coughing quite a bit. I coughed a little but I mainly was sneezing when I breathed in the steam.

 Since the town of Whakatane was so pretty we decided to stop at a local bar/restaurant that was playing live music. The guys were called shades of grey and they played amazingly. They had one kid that would stand on the other end of the steps and play the air guitar. He knew all the Eric Clapton, Eagles, Bob Segar songs that they played. The singer told us that when they started playing at this bar that the kid asked where he was suppose to stand so they gave him an X to stand at by the tables where we were. The singer said that eventually the kid moved his X closer and closer to the band during the next few months. Now they let the kid stand with them and play a toy guitar. It was very cute to watch him sing the song loud and throw off the rest of the band members.

 While we were there a couple celebrating their 5th year anniversary requested for them to play the song the first danced to for the wedding. (Eric Clapton: You look wonderful tonight). The saxophone was beautiful to listen to and I absolutely loved the couples idea to have a small band on a summer night play their wedding song. At that point in time I realized I am becoming a romanticist I begin to lose my old views on love (don't know if this is good or bad :)

 As the sun began to go down and we started walking back towards or hostel I realized that I did not want to waste such a gorgeous evening so I went back to the ocean and watched the sunset. Here is a statue of a dolphin that is well known around the shores of Whakatane.

 Corrina and I took pictures and admired this town until night fall. I almost didn't want to leave because I think I could find myself living here

 On the way home we stopped at a cafe to get breakfast and coffee. Right outside the cafe was an outdoor sitting area that was lined with flowers. I thought the whole set up was absolutely adorable and very creative.