Today we had a busy day, touring the sites around Rotorua. We started by touring the Whakarewarewa Volcanic Valley which is a geothermal site with boiling springs and volcanic activity forming heated lakes and streams with a sulfur content such that the site, and indeed the city, smells of rotten eggs. This site has had a significant amount of volcanic activity in the past. Furmaroles, or steam vents have been formed where water or gas comes up to the surface, which heats the water and forms geysers. The lake that has been formed has a temperature of 210 at the bottom and 130 degrees at the top. This is very similar to Yellowstone, but on a smaller scale. Later in the day we went to a Kiwi birthing site, the national bird of New Zealand, and
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