Mount Taranaki/Egmont is another (apparently) active stratovolcano in New Zealand, but this one hasn’t done anything at all since the early 1800s when it reportedly produced “a moderate ash eruption”.¹

Most interestingly from our perspective is that we can clearly see how very symmetrical this volcano is. A secondary cone to the south somewhat ruins the effect, but not enough to prevent filmmakers from having used this volcano as a double for Japan’s Mount Fuji in the movie The Last Samurai.

(Wikipedia, aerial photo)

Thanks to Papapenguin and Glenn.

Whakaari/White Island (to give it its official title) is an active andesite stratovolcano 48 km from the east coast of the north island of New Zealand. The volcano reaches 321 m above sea level, but this is actually just the tip of a 1600 m submarine mountain.

Notably, even though the imagery here is low-res you can’t possibly miss the impressively huge smoke plume that stretches northwards away from the island.

(Wikipedia, ground-level pic)

Thanks to Henk Bokhoven.

It’s Island Week 3 here at GSS, which means we’ll mostly be posting about Islands. It’ll probably last about a week.

Bruny is one of 20 islands and island groups in the Australian state of Tasmania, the largest island of which is also called Tasmania.

Thanks to the recent addition of Street View imagery for Australia, today we’re going to take our first Street View island day trip! Packed lunches will not be provided.

To get onto Bruny from Tasmania itself we have to take a ferry:

Once we’ve arrived at the other side, we can see an aerial shot of the ferry, with lots of cars waiting to board:

The island of Bruny has a population of just 600 people, and the economy relies on wildlife tourism. However, I’ve not spotted any wildlife yet.

Bruny’s other main attraction is the Cape Bruny Lighthouse, so let’s drive down to see that:

The lighthouse’s main claim to fame, if you can call it that, is that it was the “oldest lighthouse under continuous operation by the Commonwealth”. I’m sure you’re impressed: feel free to take photos.

Unfortunately, the Street View driver drove so slowly that it’s getting dark already, so we’ll have to pack up our picnics and head back to Tasmania. Here’s the ferry queue from the other side:

And, once docked at the other side, here’s the Google Car inside the ferry! Keep your hands inside the vehicle please.

I hope you all enjoyed our day trip to Bruny Island! Please tip the driver.

More info on Wikipedia: Bruny Island.

Thanks to Howder.

Sorry folks, no post today.

However, many of you may be unaware that we operate a “backchannel” of sorts over at Twitter, where as well as a feed of all the posts from the main site, we also post some interesting stuff that doesn’t make it on here. So for the many people that don’t read our Twitter page, here the best links that you missed!

• There’s a large police turnout in Providence, RI.
• Apparently, this Australian Graffiti artiste reckons that “TRENT IS BENT“. I wonder what Trent has to say about that?
• French resident captured taking a dump in the street, eew!
• This creepy looking house is covered in stuffed toys.
• The Street View car gets a flat tyre repaired in the tiny town of Paraburdoo, Western Australia.
• Ford Model T driving down the street.
• Wild antelope on Google Street view!
• Flickr: Google Street View car gets a ticket.

If you’d like more like this, subscribe to our twitter feed!

The proof is now clear for all to see – Jesus was a cowboy! As demonstrated by this ridiculously large example of Pareidolia in the Australian Outback.

These images have been colour-adjusted for clarity

Actually, you’re not just seeing things, this is in fact Mundi Man, and not only is he really there, but he might just be the world’s largest work of art. The vision of an artist known as “Ando“, he covers a staggering 4 million square metres – meaning that his smile alone is as wide as the Empire State Building is tall!

The image of an anonymous “stockman” (an Australian cowboy) was chosen to represent those who pioneered the Outback plains of Australia. Unfortunately, it seems that whatever method Ando used to put our cheery-looking cowboy here hasn’t lasted too well, as he seems to be slowly fading away into the desert…

Previously on Google Sightseeing: Marree Man, Face of Jesus Found In Sand Dune and Face of [Insert Your Own Messiah] Found in [Insert Your Own Natural Phenomenon].

Thanks to adrbr.