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Other entries in Whakatane

Bit of a one trick pony

Whakatane has possibly the oddest hostel I've stayed at in New Zealand. There was just soooo much floral wallpaper...

Still, the reason virtually everyone comes here, no matter how hard the local commerce department tries is White Island - the most active volcano in New Zealand...and only 47km out to sea.

It's a good hour and a half out to the Island, and the first thing you see is the abandonned sulphur mine which was further obliterated by the eruption in 2000. The volcanoe looks like it blew out one of its sides, and the eruptions are normally directional. It was , as you'd expect, a bit of a desolate landscape, but also one full of colour, noise and smells. There wasn't any bubbling lava - even the kiwi's wouldn't go that far, but there were lots of fumeroles (vents), and bubbling lakes, clouds of steam and sulphur dioxide and carbon dioxide (you could tell when to put your gas mask on as you could breathe and your lungs started burning).

It was pretty cool...especially when you realise it could just blow up at any second. Volcanoes do that.

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