Sunday morning, 13 Feb., started with a delicious cooked breakfast, trading experiences and recommendations with the other guests, then we were off for a truly exciting adventure. We were booked for a helicopter ride that would take us out over the Pacific Ocean, land on an active volcano, and then we would make a one hour tour on foot, with our pilot as a guide, of the volcano itself. The volcano, named White Island by Captain Cook (alternatively called Whakaari by the Maori), is 55 kilometers out in the Bay of Plenty. This was my (Glenna) first helicopter trip ever, and I was nervous about whether I would be okay in such a small pod, 2,000 feet over the ocean, but after the first few minutes, I found the overhead viewpoint completely captivating, and the ride itself exhilarating. (Now I can't wait to do it again, which will happen sometime next week.) There was one other passenger, Michel (from BC in Canada), so altogether there were just 4 of us with the pilot, Jared. The weather was warm and sunny, very little wind, so the ride out to the volcano was smooth and uneventful, and after circling around we landed gently on the crater inside the volcano's cone, which goes down to the ocean's edge on one side. We were, unsurprisingly, the only people on the volcano (three companies are allowed to bring people out there). The pilot was also an excellent guide, very knowledgeable about the geology and history of the place. In the early 1900s, for about 4 years, the volcano was active as a sulphur mine, with the miners living in buildings on the crater. Needless to say, this venture was not commercially successful, and then the volcano erupted, killing all the miners, and so it was finally closed down. We saw the remains of the mining business, which are rapidly deteriorating. While on the volcano, we had to wear hard hats, and gas masks around our necks (in case the steam made it difficult to breathe at any point). There are a number of places where steam vents out of the ground so we carefully followed our guide's steps. One highlight is getting up close to where the two major steam vents are enormous and continuous—our photos show us standing within about 20 feet of them. There is also a green lake which our guide assured us is one of the most poisonous bodies of water in the world. Altogether, it is a frightening but amazing place to visit. And frightening to think of men actually living and working here for weeks at a time. As a final treat, on the ride back we saw a pod of dolphins swimming beneath us. It was really an unforgettable experience and walking on a landscape that felt like the moon.

Dinner in the local lakeside café in the lee of Mount Tanawera was peaceful and calming after the thrill of the helicopter ride.