What would a trip to the volcanic plateau be without a dip in some hot springs?
Our first stop on the way to Rotorua was to see some silica terraces, at Orakei Karako. This place was pretty amazing with natually boiling water pools, steaming geysers, and of course bubbling mud. Turns out that the water here was not so good for swimming being at a balmy 100 degrees celcius.
To get our hot-spring fix we continued over to Rotorua - an entire city that is literally built on top of a volcanic vent. Everywhere you look there is steam coming out of the ground. At first I thought that the hotsprings would be isolated to ultra expensive tourist sites with large entrance fees and commercial pools. Boy was I wrong - as we drove down the main streets passing the ubiquitous cafes, department stores and gas stations we also drove right past steaming sewer vents, public parks with boiling cauldrons of mud, and steaming hot springs seeming to eminate from every local's backyard. I couldn't help but wonder if I was suddenly transported right into one of Dante's circles of hell. So many people just going about their daily business right on the top of one of the most geothermically active areas I have ever seen! Mind blown.
Our campsite in Rotorua was at a campground that was actually built on top of a hotspring (big surprise), complete with "naturally heated campsites" - yes, this means campsites so close to geothermal activity that they are actually HOT! All of a sudden the nights didnt seem so cold inside our tent. We got a nice campsite next to a burbling brook - oh wait, that burbling turning out to actually be BOILING water running in a stream behind our campsite.
Those ripples are not bugs landing, but bubbling water right behind our tent.
On the last day we also learned about Maori culture at a pre-packaged dinner and show at Mitei. Although being very touristy, and feeling like sheep being herded around a Maori village tour it still was entertaining and educational (albeit quite expensive). The Maori are the indiginenous people in New Zealand, living here way before Captain Cook showed up in the 1700's. Being a fierce warrior tribe, and such a far distance from England it seems that they were never trully conquered, with their culture very much preserved and intergrated into New Zealand society. It was not uncommon to see Maori at the grocery store with the traditional Moko tatooed onto their faces.
Check out the video of a Haka - a traditional war dance.
The tour was complete with hangi, a dinner cooked in the traditional way: buried in the ground with hot rocks and left to steam for several hours.
This city is something that I have definately never experienced before with the main attraction for me being how an entire CITY (not town) can be built on top of a boiling cauldron made seemingly of fire and brimstone. Now the bad part - all these cool bubbling mud piles, and steaming pools are releasing huge amounts of hydrogen sulfide into the air = intense rotten egg smell. No matter where you are in the city the smell is pretty much overpowering. I don't know if locals just get used to the smell, but after a few days we couldn't take it anymore. Definately worth a stop, but unless you enjoy sulfuric acid percolating inside your lungs, I wouldn't suggest staying for more that a few days after the obligatory dip in one of the hot springs.
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