Tons of it just pouring out. Poor Griff will be inconsolable

I do so worry about our anxious and fatalistic friend.

Probably more correct to say it has erupted, as opposed to is erupting..

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10849028

“GNS Science duty volcanologist Nico Fournier told APNZ the eruption happened about 1.20pm.

“There was one eruption, essentially one explosion, and it was not sustained. It spewed some ash possibly a couple of kilometres up the air. The ash is now drifting to the east-southeast.”

Adrift NZ, which runs tours of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, had around 50 people on the mountain today.

Operator Stewart Barclay, who chairs a group of 30 users of Mt Tongariro, was heading to Mt Tongariro to help his guides and their groups off the mountain.

“I’m just going to make sure everyone is safe… from my guides perspective and from what I’ve heard, it seems minor.”

Mr Barclay understood the eruption had launched no projectiles into the air.

“I’ve just talked to one of my guides and he is taking the safe route out. There was a minor amount of panic and everyone is safe now, there were no injuries.”

Dr Fournier said the eruption was not very loud and was smaller than an earlier eruption in August.

Dr Fournier was a few kilometres away when the eruption happened and said while he was safe, he had “a good view of the explosion”.

“It was remarkable a few minutes ago, now it’s dying off,” he said about 20 minutes after the explosion.

“When it happened you had a column of the ash which spewed in the air vertically, and then essentially the source of that eruption just stopped.”

The ash was now drifting away, he said.”