fa-ka-ta-ne, fa-ka-ari

We'll begin with a short lesson in Māori pronunciation:

wh ≈ "f";

a ≈ "u" as in truck;

ao ≈ "ow" as in a cross between how and bowl.

And the Māori word, Pakeha:

Pakeha is the Māori name for any New Zealander not of Polynesian descent. The term is generally used by Māori and Pakeha alike, however some don't like it because they believe it has racist undertones; so much so that some now believe the word means 'white pig', however a more accurate translation would be 'white foreigner' or simply 'foreigner'. It dates back to when the Māori people first saw European explorers.

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Now onto my story.. Whakatane (hence the joke that Australian comedian Peter Hellier made in during a performance over here: "I don't know what a 'tane' is but I'll give it a go..." - funny thing is, tane actually means man in Māori - good on ya Peter) is a nice town and the main focus of the eastern Bay of Plenty region. [The name stems from around 200 years ago when the warrior Toroa, along with family and a cargo of kumara, sailed into the estuary here. The men disembarked to greet the local leaders, leaving the women and children on the waka (canoe), but the tide turned and the waka drifted back out to sea. Toroa's daughter, Wairaka, cried out "E! Kia whakatane au i ahau!" ("Let me act as a man!") and then breaking traditional Māori tapu (something that is holy or sacred) that women should not steer waka, she took the paddle and brought the boat safely to shore.] The main attraction of the area is an island called Whakaari about 50km off the coast. White Island is its Pakeha name. This island is actually a volcano, the most active in NZ, with steam constantly bellowing from it's huge crater lake (which is where the Pakeha name came from) and almost non-stop rumblings (I have to say, I was a little disappointed that we didn't actually experience any of these rumblings while we were there - I guess our tour guides felt the opposite though).

For my time in Whakatane over the Queen's Birthday weekend, I stayed with Karen, who I met on the Milford Track, aswell as Jeff, Judy, Lauren and Dean (Jeff's mate). We all crashed on Karen's living room floor in our sleeping bags.. Sort of a grown-up sleep over - all that was missing was the pillow fights, although Jeff and Judy did come close to smothering each other with pillows! The booking for the trip to White Island was for the Saturday, but the weather took a turn for the worst and they cancelled the day's sailing. So we instead went for a pleasant walk on the Kohi Point Walkway through the local scenic reserve, passing some great lookouts and the location of Toi's Pa which is reputed the oldest pa (fortified site) in NZ.

Luckily, the weather for the next day was awesome so we were able to take the hour-and-a-half journey to the island. Like the Craters of the Moon (Lauren even commented that it seemed like we were standing on the moon) and the thermal areas around Rotorua, White Island was a very strange place to be. The roaring sound of steam vents grew as we walked towards the crater lake, which was created between 1981-83 following major eruption events - it is actually one of the most acidic lakes in the world with a pH of around 0 (the corrosive effects of the entire island are amazing: the guides' shoes and backpacks start falling apart after a few months, and the metal ladders and ramps used to reach the island from the boat are rusted after a similar period of time)! This was not the only notable event on the island, however. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, mining for sulphur on the island was attempted. One day in September of 1914, part of the western crater rim collapsed and the 10 workers on the island at the time were killed in the resulting lahar, the only survivor being the camp cat named Peter the Great.

Celebrity watch: in May 2004, a Dino (the dinosaur) figurine was placed in front of one of the Geonet volcano webcams, but Geonet decided to leave it there as they assumed it would degrade before not too long in the volatile environment. Today, however, Dino is still there and more lively than ever (he's even become a bit of a celebrity in some circles)... I should know, I met the little fella!

Photos:

1. On the island, the old sulphur factory in foreground

2. The fumes were a little overwhelming.. Left to right: Dean, me, Jeff, Karen, Judy and Lauren

3. A statue of Wairaka stands in front of another, dormant volcano, Whale Island

4. No Jeff, we're not gonna cross there...

5. The rusted ladder and ramp.. installed recently

6. So this is what the inside of a volcano looks like...!

7. White Island - on the way

8. Fancy a dip? The crater lake

9. Arriving at the island

10. The celebrity