Today, we got up nice and early and headed to the airport, to board a chopper to fly us over to White Island; New Zealands most active marine volcano. And it was brilliant.

We flew 25km over the Pacific Ocean, at around 600ft, to White Island, which looked pretty much like your everyday volcanic cone. But it was nothing compared to the view that met us when we got around the other side to come in to land. It looked like the whole side of the island had been blow away. (It probably had at some point)

We landed, and Jacklyn and I were guided around by our Pilot/Guide. There was only the three of us on the island, so we had the place to ourselves. We wandered over to a couple of vents spouting steam at 250degrees. We had a look over the crater edge into the lake below. It was bright green thanks to some microorganisms that had taken up residence, despite it being around 80 degrees, and super acidic. (pH between -0.6 and 0.3 for the chemists!)

We had a little walk over to the remnants of the mining operation that had been running in the 1930s. It had been deserted following the depression, and was pretty battered thanks to massive storms, and the harsh conditions. I won't bore you with the technicalities, that's what wikipedia is for. I've tried to upload some photos, but they really don't do it justice!

As the tour finished, a boat had just landed and with a tour group, and it really made me smile when they had to be held back, as we boarded our private chopper for our journey back to the mainland.

It was a little pricey, but for the views of the island from the sky, it was worth absolutely every penny!