As you will have learnt from my diary this month, New Zealand has an absolutely amazing landscape including a number of volcanoes. I've just been reading about a tragic event, which took place here in the 19th century. I found out my information from lots of different places so it's all a bit muddled and not in any particular order: -

• Mount Tarawera erupted in the early hours of 10th June 1886
• the famous Pink and White Terraces were destroyed
• 150 people died
• three villages to the north of the craters were destroyed
• people visiting the terraces would usually stay in Te Wairoa on the edge of lake Tarawera
• 17 people died in McRae's Hotel in Te Wairoa
• the eruption ripped out a 17km long crater
• the roar was heard as far away as Christchurch in the south and Auckland in the north
• the Pink and White Terraces were known as the Eighth Wonder of the World
• this was one of the most violent volcanic eruptions ever
• the volcano has erupted 4 times in the last 1000 years
• Maori mythology says that volcanoes can only move around at night and, if caught by the rising sun, they freeze to the spot for eternity
• the eruption cloud was about 10km high above the volcano
• for many people, a trip to the Pink and White Terraces was the highlight of their tour of New Zealand
• 2 million metres of lava flowed in 4 hours
• the Maori villages of Moura and Te Ariki were buried under a deep layer of liquid mud, stones and ash
• when they heard the explosions, many people thought that they came from a ship in distress
• red-hot boulders, scorching mud and clouds of black ash covered the area after the eruption
• the trip to see the Pink and White Terraces took a whole day from Te Wairoa
• some people thought the explosions were from a Russian ship bombarding Wanganui