However long one has been in tourism, one never manages to see everything one should. Even though I also guide and therefore see the country anew several times a year, I had never been on a helicopter tour to White Island. Over the years I had asked a number of people what they thought - is it worth it?, is it an expensive gimmic? The replies were inconclusive. Some people said it was excellent, some people simply shrugged.
Last month, thanks to Ann Parker and Volcanic Air of Rotorua, I accompanied our Russian agents on a helicopter trip to this island. My reaction? Wow! Awesome! I would do it again, immediately. The helicopter trip was nice - especially at either end, but a bit boring in the middle, over the sea. But the volcano itself? Something else...totally, as my daughter would say.
The landscape is lunar, the ground is hollow and reverberates under our feet as our excellent pilot/guide demonstrates with a thrown rock. We jump mud flows which were not there two days previously. Look at a bubbling mass throwing gobs of mud up into the sky. Inspect a crater lake with an acidity level off the planet (PH7 is water, PH4 is a car battery, this is PH0.4). On goes the gas mask... The whole trip is filled with an air of danger as we realise we are walking on something really quite volatile, and we (as well as the pilot) keep a weather eye on the quickest route back to the helicopter.
Is it worth doing? It's now on my "must do" list.
1 Jun 09
<< News index < Where Does That Leave the Trade Show? | New Zealand's Most Exclusive Coastal Hideaway >
Share this article
Send links to this article to Digg, Twitter, Facebook, etc or via email
