Hey all - not sure if it made much news back home, but one of our volcanoes erupted this week! Mt. Ruapehu (the same one Ann Marie and were exploring the base of on our trip to Auckland) launched a good bit of ash, mud, and debris on Monday night. We couldn't see it from Wellington or anything, but it was kinda crazy to think we had been there just a week before. It wasn't a major explosion - just one big rumble that send a "lahar" (river of mud and debris - in this case 8m or ~24ft wide) down the mountain side. Luckily there was only one injury, and while the guy is pretty bashed up, his injuries are not fatal. The last time Ruapehu erupted it was in 1995-96, and it was unstable for several months (the tourism economy was really affected by the decreased ski revenues). This time around, they believe the pressure has been released and the mountain should be safe again (based on temperatures and chemical composition of the crater lake).
We are headed up to Napier in Hawke's Bay after work tonight - HB is one of the three major wine regions in NZ so we'll be touring a couple of the wineries while there. Hope everyone enjoys the weekend back home!
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