New Zealand: Part 5

Part way through our trip out to Kiwi Land, we took an overnight stay up to Taupo (see Part 4) and drove a bit further to Rotorua. It was an impromptu overnight stay, which was rather interesting since none of us packed for it and all we had were bathing suits and the clothes we had worn the day before. It was a good thing we went to the hot springs, because they were probably the only thing smelling worse than we were (hot springs smelled like sulphur)! Just kidding - we all took showers, but our clothes were dirty from the day before! Oh well.

This part of the trip was really cool because it was the part of New Zealand that wasn't something we could have seen on the East Coast of the states where we live. This part of NZ has lots of geothermal activity, so as we were driving, we'd see steam coming out random places in the mountains! It was so strange, and rather eery.

Our first stop was a Maori (native New Zealand tribe/people) village located right on top of a big pocket of hot springs and steam. This community actually thrived on the use of these hot springs, cooking their food in wells built over steam pockets, using the hot water for their homes, etc. It was pretty fascinating...but you have to wonder how they live in an area that smells so bad!!

Our second stop before coming home was the Waiotapu Hot Springs. This was a big tourist attraction, based on the number of people there, but it was not hard to see why. This place was so other-worldly, it was amazing. I've never seen anything like it before! It was hard to capture it in pictures, but hopefully I get the point across. We had a good time hiking around here and seeing the different pools. All of the pools were roped off because they are all above boiling temperature. The largest of the pools, called the champagne pool, was most impressive. One of the coolest things we saw in New Zealand, I think.

The edge of the champagne pool.

Why they call it the "Champagne Pool." The whole thing has tiny bubbles from boiling.

This was the most colorful of the pools... it was called the "Devil's Bath." Creepy.