Kia Ora,

This morning I awoke and got ready awaiting a call from the White Island people as they had told me last night when I called that the skipper would make a decision at 8 AM. I made and ate my breakfast and then headed downstairs and found that the shuttle had been waiting for a good 20 minutes.

Luckily, I am not sure if by this point in my life I call it luck or grace or fortune, but I was the only one on the shuttle today (yesterday it had been near capacity, but it was cancelled) so John the bus driver waited for me.

It was about a 20 person seater bus and the drive was just around 90 minutes. Being the only passenger and due to my problem of riding in buses on windy roads and on the wrong side of the road I sat in the front and talked to the driver. We talked about a wide variety of things, his life and my life and he informed me of a factoid I didn’t know. NZ men have some of the lowest sperm counts in the world.

Now this explained a little bit of the Invitro facvilities I had seen in NZ but I was still a little surprised. But it was good conversation nontheless.

We got to the town and I boarded the boat. The PeeJay IV. It was forty feet long and had two powerful twin diesel motors. There was an upper observation deck with seats for about 20, a back deck with seating for around 15 and an inside cabin. I went upstairs to begin as that is where most of the people were. Luckily I wasn’t late.

I talked to an older gentelman from Australia and then went down to get some pictures from the back observation deck. Down there I met another gentleman named Chris who worked in the IT field. The view was much better from the bottom IMO. I went back up to the top a little later and soon began to feel sea sick so I headed back down.

I should mention that White Island is 27nm out at sea. The swells today for 3-4m or 9-12 feet so it was a very choppy ride. It was fun but I started feeling a little sick after an hour or so. Riding at the back observation deck helped as the wind and water kept me a little refreshed.

We dropped anchor in the small harbour area outside of white island. On approach I could see smoke rising from the island. Just before we were getting ready to leave they issued us our hardhats and gas masks which were conditions of our going to White Island. We weren’t required to use the respirator but we had the option.

They put the inflatable which is stored in the back of the boat into the water and along with the one from the other boat (private charter) began taking us to the island. This was neat. 8 people were loaded into the boat with a driver and then we went towards the island. Because of the swells coming off the ocean it had to be well timed. We aimed for a concrete jetty which had wooden latticing on its side. The driver moved the boat forward and hit the bow into the jetty, where a previously dropped off crew mate grabbed a rope to secure the craft.

The driver then gunned the engine for a 120 degree turn where another rope was lowered. It was then up to us to climb up the wooden latticing to shore. The key was to keep the boat stable and to avoid the sweels. It was a neat process to watch.

Just onshore was the remains of an old sulfur factory. It was pretty neat. and was eroding from the harshness of the volcanic activity. We were assembled (the 20 or so people from our boat) with the three guides who were escorting us. The guides were lively and knowledgeable and explained the purpose of the gas masks, the hard hats, and what to do in the case of a landslide or an eruption.

We then set out. My words can’t describe how cool this volcano was. There were multicolored rocks, huge sulfur deposits, boiling mut, steam vents, and everything in between. You’ll have to see the pictures. We explored and were periodically stopped for some good explanations.

We saw the steam vent (which I have a video off) that has steam coming out at 200C. That’s hot. We also saw the crater lake which is 100m deep! It was covered in steam and had a ph of -4. It would kill you quite easily. I had to occasionally done the respirator in order to stand there. Some people put it on permanentely.

They also gave us lollies (candy) to suck on in order to keep our throats lubricated and to avoid coughing. It was an amazing site like walking on some unknown planet. It was just amazing.

The guide then showed us some example of sulfur and I tried a little bit (its odorless and colorless) It is also harmless in solid but toxic as a gas.

We also got the chance to test the ph by using a small stream to clean change. I had a 10 cent piece and it did a good job.

We then continued walking and exploring and then came back to the factory. As a note this is a much quicker description of what happened, the entire tour lasted close to 2 hours.

There was also an inlet on the other side of the factory where they sometimes had to put in visitors. This was accompished by basically stopping close to the rocks and jumping. That would have been a wild way to come in. John (the driver who also came on the tour) said this only happens about 4 times a year. There was also some driftwood on the beach from some swells that were 16-20m high. That is as high as 60 feet due to the unique configuration of the island! I think that wave would be amazing to see.

We then reboarded in slightly smaller numbers as the swells had increased and returned to ship. We were treated to a nice lunch and I had good conversation with some people who worked for a technology firm.

We then circled the island as a storm was coming in. I saw my first lightning in NZ. It was amazing watching the storm encircle the island we had just left! We got off just in time!

The ride back was much smoother as we outran the storm. It was smoother as we were going with the waves much like surfing.

We then docked in the harbor and began the trip back to Rotorua. More conversation and then I came here to troll on the internet and let my mind wander.

I just have to say that the service provided was just excellent. That island was amazing and very unique to the world. I am very fortunate to have had the chance to go.

Anywho tommorrow I am leaving for Taranga (only about 1 hr away) and I will find things to get into there.

Also it is extremely cold tonight so that is very dissapointing. But the hostel is warm and I’m going to go cook me some food!

All the best!

-Mathias

A picture from white island on my iPhone. Not the best, but it should give you some idea hopefully?!?