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Published: October 26th 2005
Dear all,
some more great time was had here in New Zealand, especially since the weather has changed for the better. From the Bay of Islands and its gorgeous endless beaches, impressive kauri trees (and rain) we moved to the Coromandel peninsula with more gorgeous beaches, more kauri trees and sunny weather, what more to ask for!
We first headed through Thames and up the West side of the peninsula before crossing to the East coast, over mountains, past ragged ridges and along tortuous roads. First stop - see pictures, Rapaura gardens and waterfall. Still a bit wet but great stop for food afterwards! Then onto Hahei and its hot water beach and Cathedral Cove Walk. We missed on the hot water but got lucky at the walk: saw 2 orcas barely 3 metres away from the beach and swimming alongside the kayaks, unreal!!!
A couple nights later and we reached Whakatane in the Bay of Plenty, further to the South East. There we boarded on a tour to White Island, the only active marine volcano in NZ, and frankly I can't think of any back in Europe! Anyway in a few words: yellow boiling hissing holes with
sulphur crystals forming, "delicately-scented" clouds of hydrogen sulphide - very much like rotten eggs (Scott suggests vegetarian farts but I strongly disagree) - milky looking water, huge crater lake (think minty milk for the colour) rising at the speed of half a metre per month ready to be flooding the island. The whole place is highly active and unstable hence the gas masks and hard hats we had to wear on our 2 hour hike.
But we survived the risk of a sudden eruption and flash flood - unlike previous residents of the islands, 10 men and 4 cats died in a massive landslide in 1923, leaving only 1 feline survivor... The last explosion happened in 2000.
We left Whakatane yesterday, to head to Rotorua - because we haven't had enough of the whole volcanic and nauseous gases experience yet...
Anyway, enjoy the pictures!
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Tim & Les
non-member comment
Hello!
Looking forward to seeing you both, the weather is fantastic here - it's a tough life! Cheers Tim & Les