Whakatane, White Island, Weeks Wait Worth While
Trip Start
Oct 14, 2005
1
56
71
Trip End
??? ??, 2006
Whakatane,
New Zealand
Friday, April 7, 2006
Fortunately we got the call through on Tuesday evening the tour was going ahead, and sighs of relief all round most noticeably from Me and Charlotte, who had also been waiting since Friday. In that time we had seen many people come and go disappointed, I had walked every inch of the 16km walking track around the headland of Whakatane, watched a few films, (V for Vendetta is highly recommended) and played numerous hands of ShitHead. Fortunately I was staying at a lovely homely little backpackers, where everyone was friendly and it was easy to chat to all and sundry...
But the main reason I was here was the Island, setting off nice and early in the specially made PeeJays boats, it was not the most comfortable of rides, and alas no dolphins or whales were spotted. When we finally got to the Island it was a bleak barren landscape, almost completely devoid of vegetation except for some sparse patches of green high up on the slopes. It definitely had an other worldly feel to it, with brightly coloured red and yellow rocks from the mineral deposits. The first thing you notice about White Island is the smell, and before we disembarked we were provided with hard hats and gas masks. A very real reminder that we were heading into an unpredictable and hostile environment. The island is only a couple of Km across, but there was so much of interest packed into such a small space. The countless gas vents pumping noxious sulphurous gasses into the atmosphere, there were streams of hot acidic water corroding through the soft surface creating mini ravines. I'm not 100% certain of this, but the guide informed us that the water was PH 1, which is very acidic from my GCSE Chemistry days, but then she instructed us to put our fingers in it, and taste it. Which I did and my tongue did not burn off , and I still have finger prints, but I would have thought this would be dangerous with PH 1. Then the guides did have the typical NZ relaxed attitude, which probably comes from being safe in the knowledge it is almost impossible to sue someone in NZ. When instructing us on how to act if there is an eruption, their advice was to get behind something and you will probably be safe, they don't normally last long, and then, when it stops, make your way to the boat, if it's still there. Not that reassuring, but it did not erupt so I was ok.
The main feature of the Island was it's huge Crater Lake, it used to be a large steam/gas vent, but after the last eruption in 2000 it filled with water, which is now acting as a stopper, keeping the gas in and only slowly releasing the pressure, through the water and other smaller vents. This was probably the most dangerous area, as they predicted because of the water acting as a block the build of gas will be much greater, and so the next explosion could be very big. Incidentally the lake was over 100 degrees and had a PH level of -0.6, that's right it is so acidic that it is beyond the normal PH scale, I'm guessing they probably tried some litmus paper, and instead of changing colour it caught fire, or just dissolved completely. Anyway this was not a lake for swimming in.
A few bubbling mud pools, and some more gas vents and it was time to leave via the ruins of a sulphur mining factory. People used to actually live on this island whilst mining sulphur, they would spend a week at a time here, I could not imagine that, the smell alone was bad enough and that was only for a couple of hours, which reminds me that we were instructed to breath through our noses, because of the acidic nature of the gas, if we inhaled it orally it could form little droplets of acidic condensation in the back of your throat, nice.
The sulphur factory was destroyed when there was a landslide, because of all the underground activity the surface is unstable, and this landslide destroyed the valley, and the factory, killing all the workers, the only survivor was the factory cat, Peter. Peter went on to become a local legend, and everyone wanted a litter fathered by Peter the Great. You just can not imagine the reaction would be quite the same if it was a human survivor.
So that was it for the Island we set off back to Whakatane, but not before seeing some New Zealand Fur Seals. Considering these were nearly hunted to extinction there is a lot of them around, and every time you get on a boat or near the sea (Milford Sound, Abel Tasman, Kangaroo Island ), there is always a chance to sea these bloody seals, and all the do is sleep. No whales or dolphins on the way back either, but it was a good trip. Discovering that it was good Friday, and the Easter weekend coming up, this meant that there were no busses from Whakatane to Auckland that would get me to my flight, I managed to grab a lift back to Rotorua, and the next day I headed on to Auckland for my last night in New Zealand.
