Whangarei, New Zealand

In case any one was worried we did not even feel the earthqhake that struck Christchurch in the south island. The news from down there is pretty dire and it will take them a long time to recover from this double blow.
We are getting ready to go back to San Diego on Saturday where we will spend the next month. It was good to get back aboard Callisto after our two weeks of wandering the North Island. One of the high points of the trip was our visit to White Island which is a an active volcano about 30 miles offshore. You can only get there by boat and the photos below do not do the place justice. It used to be a sulphur mine in the early 1900's until the volcano erupted and killed most of the miners. Lots of steam and sulphur emerging from fissures in the rock. We were issued hard hats and respirators which we needed due to the acid laden steam. The water at the bottom of the crater is said to have a pH of less than one and will disolve your shoes in rapid time.
White Island was a special place and on the way back to Whakatane we saw many dolphins and humpback whales.
Next stop was Rotorua home of redwood and larch forests and numerous mud pools and spas. The lake itself looked full of rainbow trout but unfortunately all the fishing guides were all booked up so I didn't get to try my luck with a fly rod. We also saw Lake Taupo which was quite touristy but very beautiful.
From there, we travelled up the Coromandel Peninsula but, unfortunately, the weather did not comply and we were not able to see much of the spectacular scenery due to rain and fog.
We ended the trip in Auckland and met some friends from the yacht Delos and we spent a pleasant evening reminiscing about out Pacific experiences.