Volcano visits

The Queen's birthday is celebrated in New Zealand on the first weekend of June, with their only winter long weekend, also known as a perfect chance to go for an adventure out of town! Friday night was spent with colleagues as we celebrated the end of the work-week and friends as an intern from Germany who had also been working in Gisborne left for home. Farewell, and thank you for all the German words, laughter and great memories!  The next morning, I packed and hopped on the bus to Whakatane and the volcanic adventure of a lifetime!! It was an absolutely gorgeous day, and the bus passed through an incredible gorge with an extremely windy road, through inland farming areas, and along beautiful  coastline. I settled into the backpackers in Whakatane and explored the lovely, colourful downtown nestled between the ocean and some impressive cliffs! I caught the local bay hopper bus one town over to Ohope, which has one of the nicest beaches in all of New Zealand! I walked along the lovely, sandy beach in the beautiful sunshine - ahhhh the life. I then headed along the coast, up the cliffs along a trail which ran along the shore to connect Whakatane and Ohope. I had a great walk with beautiful views of the ocean and surrounding landscape. A few hours later, I was back in Whakatane for a quiet evening in preparation for my SUPER EXCITING DAY tomorrow.

 This super exciting day blew me away! (Thankfully not literally:)) I enjoyed my birthday present from Mom and Dad - a tour on an active volcano! I hopped on a boat for the 50km trip out to the volcanic island. Along the way, I enjoyed the beautiful sunshine and sea spray and part of our trip was even accompanied by dolphins!! A large pod joined the journey and swam all around the boat with incredible speed and grace - a fantastic start to the day. I arrived at the island, and, armed with a hard hat and breathing mask, took a small zodiac to the shore. I walked among mounds of stone debris from the last eruption (no lava on this volcano) as I made my way to the crater. My group passed through hot streams with mineral crystals formed on the surface of the rocks, walked over and around heat and pressure mounds and admired the vivid red to yellow colours of the surrounding crater edges. We stood metres away from venting fumaroles, and boiling mud and water pits - so cool!!! Finally, we stood on the edge of the crater and looked down into a lot of steam and a lake of bubbling, not-so-yummy looking water. SO COOL!!!!!! On our way off the island, we checked out an old mining camp and saw some of the new equipment which is keeping a watch on the place. It was really neat to be on a volcano  and see 'the Earth in motion' wowwwieeee!!! :)

What happens when a German fruit picker, an italian author, a belgian doctor and I sit down to dinner in the hostel? Not a bad joke which I know you were hoping for, but an enjoyable evening spent playing cards. Next day after a morning in town, I caught the bus back to Gisborne. Definitely a well-spent long weekend!

PS - technical difficulties, pictures to come.