Geothermal Activity

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Today I did some sight seeing of Rotorua before making my way on the magic bus to Taupo. We stopped off to see some bubbling mud pools. It was strange to see mud bubbling and steaming. In fact the whole town of Rotorua has random steam outlets which are cordoned off so no-one hurts themselves on the hot steam (that's what makes the smell!) Anyway, after that we went to see what is called a geyser (pronounced guyzer- not geezer as some of the English people were saying!) It looks just like a mini volcano and is similar in that it erupts. It erupts hot water and steam though- not lava. Every day at 10:15 the geyser is 'set off' on purpose so that it can be controlled. We watched it erupting which was fun. And it kept us warm which was nice as the further south we go, the colder it gets.

After the Lady Knocks Geyser eruption it was back on the bus for a bit. We arrived in Taupo late afternoon. A few of us went to take a walk to the lake which was beautiful and I got my first glimse of Mount Doom! It was pretty far in the distance though and I'll be getting a lot closer as we go south. We also went to check out the Taupo bungee site as one of the girls I met is going to be doing it. (She's very brave!) The view for it is lovely- Taupo is a very pretty town. We had a few drinks in the evening and celebrated one of the guys 21st birthday. I am meeting some great people and plan on travelling with a few of them for a little while.

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Photos

Bubbling and steaming mud pools
smelly, smelly and smelly!