New Zealand - Wonderwoman Week 6

Well our time in NZ is coming to a close. We have to return Lynda at the end of the week and fly to the land of Oz - like Dorothy.

We took a boat 50 km east of Whakatane (the "wh" in the maori language is pronounced "f") and arrived at the most active volcano in NZ - White Island.The journey out was v choppy with several passengers feeling the motion of the ocean in a bad way. But an hour and half later we were...

...approaching White Island...carefully

...the landing site happens to be the crater.

Hard hat and breathing apparatus are compulsory...nervous me....no....I've got tissues

Landing pier, where you have a leap of faith to make

...our trusty steed. PeeJay V...

The environment is so harsh, it's difficult for trees to become established.

A giant molar!

The island is privately owned by the Buttle family Foundation and they allow visitors to land with registered companies under strict safety conditions...hard hat, gas filter and two guides per 8 visitors. This is necessary because this is a dangerous place.

The island is like a bubbling cauldron.

Absolutely nothing grows here, the ground temperature is too high and the atmosphere is acidic...

Letting off steam! looking towards the crater lake

Sulphur is abundant.

Kettle's boiled! the gas is a mixture of water vapour and Sulphuric acid

It's like something from Dr Who.

Oh no, it's a cyber woman.

The aliens have landed!

Sulphur and steam spa..on the left is a sulphur cone that was underwater until a few years ago

Vulcanologists can measure past activity by looking at the layers.

Hot mud pools abound.

Is the water hot enough for you? Looking into the seething crater lake. The water here has a pH of 0.07, i.e. very, very acidic

Looking back towards the landing site, wheres the boat.

Panorama of the crater looking to wards the landing site ( just on the right)

No pigs wallowing here!

You can also reach the island by helicopter but at NZ$550 per person it's a bit pricey.

The island used to be a sulphur mine (1885-1933) with people living on the island.  Several companies were started to extract the sulphur for use as fertiliser, but is offshore location and the harsh conditions made it a difficult enterprise. The final attempt ended with a violent explosion of the volcano killing most of the workers. Here are some remnants from those times.

Coal feed for the large retort used to melt the sulphur form the ore

Steam turbine and boiler for the generation of power

The view from the boat as we make our way back to the mainland. Did we really walk into the that??

 The entrance to Whakatane harbour is tricky because the river flows through here. There is a statue at the entrance of a Maori princess who saved her people when they landed here. all the women were left on the waka (large canoe)whilst the men went ashore. traditionally it was tapu for a woman to wield an oar. but the the sea was so rough and the women were in such danger, so she took up the oar and rowed to safety, saying  “Kia Whakatāne au i ahau” ("I will act like a man").

)

Statue of Maori Maiden Wairaka, saviour of her people.

We continued north from Whakatane to Mauncanui (Maunca = mountain, Nui = Great) where we visited the Kaueranga visitor centre. This area once had a huge3 concentration of Kauri trees. These were tall straight grained trees favoured in building. 

Beech

The terrain made it difficult to get the felled trees out of the hillside forests so special kauri damns were built to build up water and float the logs. Once the dam was full the large sluices were opened and the logs would be flushed down to a lower level and eventually to the river. An ingenious and cheap solution this may have been but it was wasteful. Only 20% of the logs that were cut survived this treatment to reach the sawmills for building timber.

...Kauri damn

Still heading north we drove to the Miranda coast to have a look at some seabirds and waders, oh and the moonlit landscapes

...nice moonlit view

...oh and another...

We rested at the top of the peninsula at Orere point.....then it was time for some history...at Waitangi

Monument at the Treaty grounds

This is a famous and infamous site in NZ's history. It was here in 1840 that Maori chiefs ceded authority to the English Crown, and it has been a point of contention ever since. There is too  much to write in here so have a look at Treaty of Waitangi

The Stone store built in 1832, in Kerikeri...

This is the oldest building in NZ, The Mission House at Kerikeri...built in 1822

The harbour is home to ducks just like an English village.

The north east of the North Island is Auckland's playground. The Bay if Islands is a popular destination.

Bay of islands

...sunset at Taurangi Bay

...same view, just a little later you can't see the NZ Navy cadets on manoeuvres in the bay but they were there.

The following morning we headed up to Northland the furthest reaches of NZ, its further than you think and took us all day to get to...

...Cape Reinga...which is a long way from everywhere.. even Bluff..

Still a long way from home.

Cape Reinga is at the top of the SH1 (State Highway) and Bluff is at the southernmost end, so we have been to both ends of the highway.

View west from Cape Reinga

On the west coast of Northland there is a beach that stretches for 68 miles, and is called "99 mile beech"

..here's the start of it...

Our final stop is at Trounson Kauri Park for an overnight stay before travelling to Auckland. This was our last night Lynda.

We drove back to Auckland as most Aucklanders were heading North for the Easter weekend. Lynda went home and we settled in to our hotel for the next few days before flying to Australia. It seems strange carrying our bags again after so long.

Next stop land of the marsupials and the Wizard of Oz - not.