Raoul eruption triggers memories

When a volcano on Raoul Island erupted, Whangarei ornithologist David Crockett knew the fear those on the island were feeling.
Mr Crockett was one of 20 people evacuated from Raoul Island the last time it blew in 1964, and remembers vividly how plumes of steam rose into the air and "lava bombs" rained down.
Department of Conservation worker Mark Kearney, 33, is missing, presumed dead, after the Friday eruption which happened as he was checking the temperature in the island's Green Lake.
Mr Kearney's five colleagues were evacuated from the island.
The news brought memories of the 1964 eruption flooding back to Mr Crockett, who was on the island with fellow members of the New Zealand Ornithological Society on its 25th anniversary expedition.
They watched as rocks and debris were hurled 500m in the air, and clouds enveloped the island for days.
Mr Crockett, who had only been on the island three days, remembers it was about 6am when he saw a plume of white steam billowing up from Green Lake.
There had been a series of small earthquakes in previous days, but he thought nothing of them until the eruption.
"The steam was followed by grey coloured material coming from the crater, which was the stuff from the lake bottom," Mr Crockett said.
"Then lava bombs started popping out like fireworks _ it was quite a spectacular sight. It went on for a couple of hours."
The group put its evacuation plan into action, heading for the two boats in the harbour and started filling them with supplies before taking to sea.
The Navy survey ship Lachlan, which had taken the group to the island and was surveying nearby islands, returned to Raoul to pick up the men.
But even then, they were reluctant to leave and waited offshore for four days in the hope they could return.
But with supplies running low the ship had to head for New Zealand.
"There was a bit of apprehension at the time so I know (what the DOC workers) were going through. I vowed then that I'd never return to the place," Mr Crockett said.
However, two years later he did return and stayed for several months. What he learned on the island later helped him rediscover the Chatham Island taiko in 1978, which had been thought extinct for 100 years.