New Zealand - Rotorua

---

Kei ter pehea koutou

Well its lunchtime in Rotorua and where do we to eat? Will it be the Fat Dog, Grumpy Mole, the Pheasant Plucker or the Pig and Whistle? We decided on the Pig and Whistle for full Kiwi breakfast and a pint of Swine Lager (well what else would you have?)

The Pig and Whistle is in what used to be the local police station and l suppose you could say they have a captive audience!!!

The next morning we went off to Waimangu Valley which boasts boiling mud pools, crater lakes and sulphur vents. We went for a 2 and half mile walk around the valley and marvelled at the milky water, which is coloured by underlying sulphur and finished off with a cruise around Lake Rotomahana which is surrounded by active sulphur vents and overlooked by the active Mt Tarawera, which last erupted in 1951. This volcanic valley is apparently the newest geothermal system in the world and only one established within written history. That enough of the geography.

The valley looked to us like a long valley which is steaming with anger and just ready to explode. They told us again not to venture off the well constructed pathways that people have died in the past by just doing that. Just stick to the straight and narrow. We have some, hopefully very nice, photograhs, which l will edit back home, there are a lot. We also went up Mt Ngongotaha with a cable car, but apart from the wonderful views of Lake Rotarua it was waste of time and energy.

So, Amy, the reason it smells of rotten eggs in Rotorua is because of the sulphur vents everywhere.



Haere ra (goodbye)

BTW the top line means How are you? in Maori

---