My Home Town - Whakatane

Mum and I are going home, we were both born and educated in a small town called Whakatane - pronounced Faka-ta-ne or Far-kar-tar-nair.

Situated on the east coast of the North Island near the middle of the Bay of Plenty, it is one of New Zealand's sunniest centres. The population of around 18,500 trebles in size during summer when visitors come to enjoy all kinds of beach and boating activities. Deep-sea fishing and marine tours are special attractions.

Whakatane has an important Maori heritage and has three significant volcanic peaks Mt Edgecumbe, Whale Island and White Island. White Island is a major tourist attraction and can often be seen puffing steam clouds on the horizon.

Its been 15 years since I have been home - there will be many changes, but I'm really excited. So a little bit of an outline of where I'll be for the next week. I hope to blip and show you some of the area where I grew up, a different part of NZ.

My bag is packed, zipped and I'm ready to go - off to have some fun and capture some memories :)