My Story: Fire in the Sky by Shirley Corlett

This is the diary of a boy called James who visited a very famous place which was considered to people as the eighth wonder of the world. The pink and white terraces were spectacular in Tarawera just before something that would make them even more famous happened...
The year was 1886 and business was booming in Tarawera. It was a place that only rich English people could visit but James was 'Kiwi'. It was because his papa worked for the newspaper and he was the artist. He had to go too the pink and white terraces and paint them. They had to go by horse carriage because cars didn't exist back then. It would've been a long and tiring trip too Tarawera.  when they got there James was so exited.  A few days later they went too mount Tarawera which was an extinct volcano, or was it?  On the way there they saw a strange boat which was recognised to the tour guide as a Maori  war canoe. but the problem was that a Maori war canoe hasn't been seen on the lake for years and years and years. It was explained as an omen of misfortune. ten days later mount Tarawera erupted and lots of people died.