The eruption of White Island

I don't know how many of you heard the news from last week that Whakatane's White Island or Whakaari as it's known in Maori erupted - apparently it was the result of a blocked vent which exploded with no warning. People who were visiting with tour operators, many of them tourists were burned or killed and there was a rescue mission afterwards to pick up the bodies that were left on there.

My other half grew up in Whakatane's Ohope Beach so he knows the area well and when we lived in Tauranga for 3 years we visited this area a few times - his parents and sister are buried at the local cemetery. It's such a lovely spot with good fishing.

For us it seems like our plan to move to the west coast has fallen through. The company that the other half wanted to work for have been mucking him around so we have switched our focus to either Whakatane or Nelson - either one would work for us so we are waiting to hear what happens.

btw the island in the background of this photo is Whale Island not White Island which is 30 km off the coast.

Linking up with Our World Tuesday.

Yellow gazanias and driftwood sculptures at Ohope beach

Over the weekend we did a bit of a tiki tour around Whakatane, one of the spots we visited was lovely Ohope beach. Beautiful hot sunny Spring day and awesome scenery - yellow gazanias growing in the sand on the hillside and a driftwood sculpture on the sand - just perfect!

Linking up with Our World Tuesday :-)

Summer skies at Ohope Beach

It's only November here and already it feels like Summer has struck. Last weekend while driving through the Whakatane coast we kept driving for an extra 5-10 minutes and came through the small settlement of Ohope (oh-hope-ee). This tiny town is well known for it's seaside holiday spot and many people come here to camp over the holidays. This place reminds me of up where I've come from - Mangawhai Heads up north.

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