Rotten Eggs

The title refers only to the smell of sulfur in the air from all the thermal activity in this area and not anything about us or the town :) This is a very touristic area where even some of the outdoor pursuits like walking can cost money. However the scenery is fantastic, once you go up a few hundred metres you see the sulfur fumeroles escaping from the ground in an amazing landscape.

Champagne Lake

The first place of interest on our itinerary was Wai-o-Tapu a fantasy park where "all" the colours of the rainbow can be seen in different pools of water. The colours depend of course on the chemicals escaping through the hot vents - emerald green (arsenic), sulfur yellow, crimson red (iron) amongst others. There is also a small geyser here which the park attendants force to explode everyday, its normal activity being only every 36-72 hours. Apparently what they do is just add a little fatty soap which breaks up a small crust between the hot and cold gases/waters and once these two mix the explosion is started.

Devil's hole Wai-O-Tapu

There are only 3 geysers left in NZ of over 100 before the europeans started trying to harness the thermic power. "In the beginning" people just thought they could plug straight into the thermals and generate power but they didn't count on causing extra build up and thus blowing out all the energy. Several failed projects caused the loss of a large number of thermic areas including the geysers. We suspect the tourist industry are quite happy because it means people will pay to see the remaining few.

Rotorua has a fairly interesting museum based in the old edwardian style bath-house. The bath house was closed down due to health concerns (rather a shame since it was designed to cure illnesses) and after being a nightclub finally got converted to a museum.

Huka Falls Lake Taupo

Slightly further south is NZs biggest lake Taupo where we managed a quick walk to see the raging waters of Huka. We could not imagine rafting down here but it's fairly sure that the locals do, the waterfall is between 5 and 9 metres depending on rainfall.

The next stop was Tangariro so as to do one of the more well known day hikes. Basically you go up a volcano and down the other side. The weather wasn't great so we missed some of the best views but even so the scenery is pretty spectacular. You can take a side trip up to 2400m or just stop at 1900m, since it was raining we opted for the later although around about 5pm on our way out the whole mountain was clear. We met some Israelis who, like us did not fancy paying a bus for the trip and so parked one car on either side of the walk, driving down to the parking area there were plenty of potholes to dodge and the car just about made it.

Lady Knox b4 Eruption

Museum ex Bath House

NZ or Middle Earth

Painter's Palette

Rainbow Mountain View

Swimming Lake (not) Wai O Tapu

Tongariro After the Rain

Tongariro Central Crater

Tongariro Emerald Lake

Tongariro Red Crater

Tongariro Volcano Summit Through the Clouds

View Wai-O-Tapu