| New Zealand North Island: Rotorua |
| on to Tongariro ...or |
| From Hobbiton we travelled on to Rotorua. Rotorua is an active thermal area and would be way cooler if it didn't smell strongly of sulphur. Our hotel was right next to some of the main |
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| tourist attractions: the Thermal Village (pic above) and Te Whakarewarewa (home of the famous Pohutu geiser). Pohutu (the grey hill with the most steam coming from it on the right side of the thermal village photo) erupts 10-20 times a day, usually for about 5-10 minutes at a time, but it has been known to last for several hours. Because we could see all of the best bits right from our balcony, we decided we didn't need to rush out to these over our 2-day stay. That night was New Year's Eve and we celebrated with a carpet picnic in our hotel as an end to our long day of sight seeing. |
| The next morning we were off to Wai-O-Tapu, one of several thermal reserves in the area. We spent a few minutes exploring one of the thermal areas before heading off to see the Lady Knox geiser erupt at precisely 10:30am. It's timing is so precise because early settlers discovered while attempting to do laundry in the naturally hot water springs that soap will actually release pressure and set the geisers off! The bonus of this little tidbit is that Lady Knox is the only gesier that you can be guaranteed to see |
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| go off. It initially sends water 15 meters in the air, and then continues to shoot water 5-10 meters in the air for another 1/2 hour. Once the lady had done her thing we returned to the thermal park for a longer look around. The amazing sights would become familiar by the end of our second day there, but for now we were awestruck. We walked endlessly through pools of boiling muddy water and steam rose from the ground thorugh holes stained with green sulphur. The champagne pool was like a bubbly artist's pallette (pic below left). The devil's bath looked like the rinsing jar for the artist's paintbrushes (pic below top right). One place was reminiscent of Hill Inlet filled with green sulphuric water (pic below bottom left). |
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| Our last stop in Wai-O-Tapu was at the mud pools. This area was different from the others because the mud was actually vey thick, rather than the boiling muddy water that we had seen endless amounts of earlier. The bubbles formed slowly and popped making cute little glugging sounds (pic left). Occasionally there was a huge eruption of gases from deep within the mud that made a rather thunderous noise as mud flew high in the air. This picture of the mud is in my top 3 for the whole trip. |
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| one too dry for my taste! The medium one was fantastic and Frank's sweet tooth showed through with his blueberry liqueur purchase! We also had a bite to eat. Frank had fresh blueberry juice, venison & blueberry pie, and blueberry pie and ice cream for dessert. I had a blueberry juice and lemonade spritzer, skipped the main & had the same dessert! Yum! |
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| That evening we attended a tourist version of a hangi dinner at a Maori marae (village). It was a tour run by a local Maori tribe, so you went to a mock marae and conducted the challenge ceremony before being granted entry to the marae for the dinner (pic below left). It was a nice way to get a taste of Maori culture, rather than simply attending one of the many hangi dinners offered at the hotels in the area. Hangi is just a way of cooking by using hot rocks buried with wrapped food in the earth. I have no doubt by the buffet served that our food wasn't actually cooked that way despite assurances, but they did have a mock pit there to show us how it is done. This is a picture of Frank & I by a carved wooden Maori hut decorated with Paua shells (pic below right). |
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| The next day we visited Hell's Gate, where Frank reverted into a complete and total tourist momentarily (pic left)! It was so named because George Bernard Shaw once visited and said that it reminded him very much of where he feared he would end up one day... The unique aspect of this thermal area is that it is far more active than any of the others, and they offer thermal spa services there. Apparently people have flocked to the area with the belief that the volcanic areas have medicinal properties. Frank & I walked |
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| around the area first and saw Hells' Gate for ourselves (pic below left). Nobody has been able to determine how deep this boling mud pool is. The whole reserve was stifling hot, with so much steam rising from the ground in some places that I was having a hard time breathing in spots (pic below right). |
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| earrings all turned black anyway because we handled them with damp fingers. Fortunately, New Zealand sells plenty of silver jewelry! Unfortunately, our bathing suits smelled like sulphur for days, but my skin felt nice and soft afterwards! Along withnew earrings, I bought a mud mask and facial scrub as souvenirs... We then spent the rest of the afternoon shopping before resting up and packing for the big move to our next destination... |
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| After our walk we took a thermal mud bath (pic below right), followed by a sulphur spa. One couple in the spa had travelled there just to use the sulphuric water spas for 2 weeks as a way to soothe their arthritis. Before you cold get in, you had to remoe all of your silver jewelry because the sulphur makes it turn black. I nearly couldn't get one of my earrings out, but managed before asking for wire cutters... In the end our our |
| That afternoon we visited the Mamaku Blue Winery. They actually specialize in blueberry products of all types, but their wines were noteworthy! Surprisingly, I found their driest |
| Frank & Lisa's Amazing Aotea/Kiwi/NZ Adventures |
| Northern Territory: Red Centre , 2 / Top End , 2 NSW & ACT: Hunter Valley / Sydney / Canberra , 2 Queensland Coast: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 South Australia: Barossa Valley / Kangaroo Island / McLaren Vale & Coonawarra Victoria: Great Ocean Road , 2 , 3 / Melbourne New Zealand (North Island): Aukland / Rotorua / Tongariro / Wellington (South Island): Nelson / Westland / Queenstown / Milford / Dunedin / Mt Cook / Christchurch |