Visit to White Island

Twenty members of the Gisborne Canoe and Tramping Club had an unforgettable experience recently when they paid a visit to White Island, 27 miles offshore in the Bay of Plenty. They travelled to Tauranga by car, spent over six hours travelling to the island by trawler, and landed by using a rubber dinghy. White Island is the summit of a volcanic mountain rising out of deep water. The crater is occupied by two lakes, which are fed by geysers and boiling springs. These waters are intensely acid, and deposit sulphate of lime, while the vapours form deposits of pure sulphur. The party inspected the derelict buildings of the sulphur mining company which once operated on the island, and also the gannet rookeries. (Pictures By Dick Short).