A City with Underfloor Heating

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While New Zealand is famous for great nature in general, the North Island is known for its strong vulcanic and thermal activity. The scenic route, the "Thermal Explorer Highway" passes by Roturua, at Lake Roturua. Here the nature of the underground is omnipresent. Dozens of places have steamy holes, sulphuric smell, mud-bubbles, boiling pools and warm ground. Even in the city center you can smell it everywhere. Many of the locals are Maori and a Christian-Maori community has build an impressively nice church at the lakefront near their traditional assembly hall. Both show lots of traditional wood carvings.
The power of the underground is used by the locals in many ways. Not only exist thermal power stations to produce electricity but the steam from drillings into the ground is also used in private households diretly. A Maori showed us his bathroom, basically a artificially build hot pool. He also told us that he steam-cooks all his food and that this method is very fast and preserves the vitamins of vegetables. With a heat exchanger he heats up clean water by using the hot mineral water from the ground. This clean water is then led into his radiators to heat his house in the winter.

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Photos

Hot Pool
In the municipal park we had a walk around different hot spots.

Bubbling Mud Soup
blub...blub....blub.blub...

Ready for a Steam Bath?
You can smell it everywhere in Roturua.

Craters of the Moon
An active area near Roturua.

Colorful Algea
Found in the hot water.

Church at Lake Roturua
This is the church of the local Maori-Christian community. In the backside it features a big window towards the lake with an engraved picture of Jesus vitually walking over the waters of the lake.

Maori Wood Carving
Opposite the lake-side church the local community assembly hall shows traditional Maori Woodcarvings

Hot Steam from Every Chink
At several places in Roturua, especially near the lake front the thermal activity is just ubiquitous.