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Holiday, cont - Hobbiton, White Island
Sep. 10th, 2010 04:56 pmQuick update before dinner:
- Went to the Hobbiton set. First tourist attraction I've been to that requires visitors to sign a NDA... which is why I can't post pictures or comment on what was there. But there were "squee!" noises.
- Went to White Island, which is the first tourist attraction I've been to that requires visitors to wear a gas mask. If there was a NZ version of this song, I think White Island would get a prominent mention.
The area where we disembarked was stratified thusly:
* Pyroclastic bombs from the 2000 eruption. (They look a lot like Violet Crumble on the inside, but are less delicious and more likely to kill you.)
* Lots of ash.
* Remains of an old sulfur factory, abandoned in 1933.
* Mud, gravel, etc. from the 1914 lahar that wiped out the previous sulfur-mining effort, killing every last man. Except for the cat (who made it back) and some guy called Donald, who had already vanished under mysterious circumstances the previous year, leaving only his boots on the edge of a crater.
Apparently the 1914 'rescue' team never even managed to find the buildings, let alone the crew, so I guess they were still under there somewhere.
We put on our hard-hats and tromped uphill towards the crater. Along the way we passed lots of hot mud and sulfur vents. There was a steady roaring noise that sounded like a very loud blowtorch; it turned out to be a big steam vent, somewhere around 200C.
Tromped further uphill. The air was noticeably acidic (sulfur dioxide) and I put on my gas mask, which helped but didn't entirely stop the coughing. I was also feeling quite short of breath; I'd guess this was high CO2 levels. And then we got to a mud ridge overlooking the crater lake...
Bright green, when we could see it through the acidic steam. The green was dissolved minerals and extremophilic bacteria; accordingly to our guide, the water was somewhere around 60-70C, and pH -0.5. (At this point, guide had to discourage one of the tourists from wandering past the hopefully-safe path towards the cliff edge overhanging the lake. SRSLY WHAT.)
And then we headed back to the boat. It was a fascinating place, and I'm glad I went, but... brr. On the way back the guide explained to us that you couldn't run this sort of tour in most countries because liability laws wouldn't allow it.
Will post photos at some later date! Also went to lots of mud pools, museum, and various other things, but dinner calls.
- Went to the Hobbiton set. First tourist attraction I've been to that requires visitors to sign a NDA... which is why I can't post pictures or comment on what was there. But there were "squee!" noises.
- Went to White Island, which is the first tourist attraction I've been to that requires visitors to wear a gas mask. If there was a NZ version of this song, I think White Island would get a prominent mention.
The area where we disembarked was stratified thusly:
* Pyroclastic bombs from the 2000 eruption. (They look a lot like Violet Crumble on the inside, but are less delicious and more likely to kill you.)
* Lots of ash.
* Remains of an old sulfur factory, abandoned in 1933.
* Mud, gravel, etc. from the 1914 lahar that wiped out the previous sulfur-mining effort, killing every last man. Except for the cat (who made it back) and some guy called Donald, who had already vanished under mysterious circumstances the previous year, leaving only his boots on the edge of a crater.
Apparently the 1914 'rescue' team never even managed to find the buildings, let alone the crew, so I guess they were still under there somewhere.
We put on our hard-hats and tromped uphill towards the crater. Along the way we passed lots of hot mud and sulfur vents. There was a steady roaring noise that sounded like a very loud blowtorch; it turned out to be a big steam vent, somewhere around 200C.
Tromped further uphill. The air was noticeably acidic (sulfur dioxide) and I put on my gas mask, which helped but didn't entirely stop the coughing. I was also feeling quite short of breath; I'd guess this was high CO2 levels. And then we got to a mud ridge overlooking the crater lake...
Bright green, when we could see it through the acidic steam. The green was dissolved minerals and extremophilic bacteria; accordingly to our guide, the water was somewhere around 60-70C, and pH -0.5. (At this point, guide had to discourage one of the tourists from wandering past the hopefully-safe path towards the cliff edge overhanging the lake. SRSLY WHAT.)
And then we headed back to the boat. It was a fascinating place, and I'm glad I went, but... brr. On the way back the guide explained to us that you couldn't run this sort of tour in most countries because liability laws wouldn't allow it.
Will post photos at some later date! Also went to lots of mud pools, museum, and various other things, but dinner calls.
