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Published: August 8th 2007
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Mud pool
This is my "Bog of eternal stench" cool huh Rotorua is famous for its geothermal activity and it's sulphur pools, what this really means is , this place stinks. All of the geothermal activity releases sulphur in the form of sulphur hydroxide in to the air. If you remember back to your school days sulphur was the bright yellow stuff that stank of rotten eggs, well that is exactly what Rotorua smells like, all the time. To be fair when it rains it does take away most of the smell, but as soon as the sun comes out and it starts to warm up it really starts to stink.
Well enough about the smell, thats only a small part of what makes up Rotorua, for a start this seems to be the Maori cultural capital of New Zealand, with villages, and tribal dances on display everywhere. We chose to go on a night out to a Maori hangi (meal) and traditional dance (including poi dance and Haka). It was excellent first when you turn up you are alotted a table to sit on and are greeted by the compare, who cracks a few jokes and talks to you about what is going to happen that night, then gets
Maori warriors in canoe
they're hard, nothing but a loin cloth and it was pi**ing it down. Maori warriors in canoe
they're hard, nothing but a loin cloth and it was pi**ing it down.everyone to elect a cheif for the night. It is the cheifs job to lead everybody into the village, meet the Maori warriors and make a speach to them, they then allow us in to their village. This was all pretty cool as we were being led through the forest to the village you have to cross a river and as we walked up either side, the warriors paddled up along side us in a traditional canoe, they all chanting and making hand movements in unison. In the village we all took seats while our chief, chief Dan went and excepted the peace token and thanked the village on everybodies behalf. We all then sat and watched for about an hour while we we're shown poi dances, the Haka, traditional songs and fighting tecniques, the Maori cheif spent the last 10 minutes or so explaining Ta Moko, which is the Maori traditional tattooing of the face and body. I of course loved this bit. after the show came the meal, chicken, lamb, potato and sweet potato all cooked in a tradtional hangi, which is
Maori chief
The one who talked us through everything, taught us a bit of maori. a hole in the ground which is covered with dirt for about 3 hours while the
Maori chief
The one who talked us through everything, taught us a bit of maori.contents cook, it is then uncoverd for us to eat. The food was absolutly delicious and I wouldn't hessitate in eating any of it again. Then meal being so big takes about another hour to eat, they then take you on a short walk through the nearby forrest to see glow worms that they have living by their own sacred spring. Glow worms are exactly what they sound like, worms that glow bright blue when it's pitch black. The walk was quite enjoyable, being able to walk off a bit of the huge meal but at the same time it was absolutly chucking it down so i was really happy when we got finished and headed back inside. The night ends with a ride home in their bus. Another night well spent.
El spent one afternoon sampling the Polynsesian Spa, where she relaxed in a range of smelly natural sulphur pools at varying hot temperatures, and the of course followed it up with an Aix massage and exfoliation
mmmm dinner.
so good i can still taste it. under water jets and a massuse in a swim suit! It goes without saying that she loved it!
One of our days here was completely ruined by the
mmmm dinner.
so good i can still taste it.weather, it just rained and rained all day the worsest weather we've seen in the last 6 months, oh well one day in 6 months isn't bad going i suppose. what kind of weather have you had in the last 6 months?
Today we went to Wai-O-Tapu, Thermal Wonderland. Here we saw Lady Knox Geyser shoot about 30 feet into the air, but only after the guide put soap down the hole to prompt it, something to do with softening the surface tension of the cold water on top of the hot water, i dunno all i know is, man drop soap in hole, water spurt out of it result very happy Dave.
We then started a 2 hour walk around the rest of the wonderland looking at different springs, mineral deposits on rocks as well as mineral pools. The type of mineral in the pool or on the rock showed as a different colour, the reddy colours were
Lady Knox Geyser 1
Before it blew its top. either iron deposits of arsenic and gold mixed but the one we saw the most of was the stinky yellow sulphur. The park is excellent with steam and water vapours covering tracks so that you can't see 2
Lady Knox Geyser 1
Before it blew its top.steps in frount of you and then when it does clear you are confrounted by a brilliant yellow or green pool of bubbling water. Atfer the walk we took a short drive down the road to a mud pool, this is the bit i was looking forward to the most. You stand behind a barrier for you own protection as you watch a huge lake of mud just bubbling away just a few feet in frount of you, it's is just so fun to watch and listen to the plopping sounds as little bits of mud are propelled into the air and splosh back down into the lake. It was watching this along with the smell which reminded me of the film "Labarinth" and the "Bog of eternal stench".
So tomorrow we leave Rotorua and head to the Bay of Plenty, but on our way we are going to Hells Gate, Rotorua's
most active geothermal field. Were hoping for more sulphur and bubbling mud action!
.....Dave.
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Claude
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This ever amazing journey is such a pleasure to follow and you can be sure that when you are back I am going to pick your brain so as to plan my next trip down under. New Zealand sounds amazing (except for worst day of rain in 6 months!). Love the story of staying with the Maoris and guess I would too enjoy the experience. So keep a track of the names of places and how to get there.... my eternal problem of getting myself lost of fearing to get lost. Keep writing you accounts are really interesting and I guess what you could do next is write a different type of travel guide. See you very soon back in sunny London. Good luck with the rest of the experience. Love