Monday 19 January 2009

Mud, geysers and sulfur

The Saturday was sooo hoooooooooot day-not sure if the weather got warmer or just the soil really heated up because of the fact that we arrived in the geothermal heart of the Northern Island! The Rotorua-Taupo region (Taupo Volcanic Zone) lies on the Pacific "Ring of fire", which marks in NZ the boundary between the Pacific and the India/Australia tectonic plates. In non-scientific words once around Rotorua (or afterwards on the thermal highway to the lake of Taupo) it smells like sulphur everywhere, one can see the rocks smoke and from time to time some geysers go up...

We visited the youngest geothermal area in the world (as they claimed it here), Waimangu. It was a 10-km-walk within a fern-rainforest sighting some impressive white silica terraces, bubling green-orange pools and steaming rocks. On the way to Lake Taupo we stopped in the Honey Factory "Bee Hive" where a delicious honey tasting took place, now we have 2 pots of New Zealand honey in the camper :)

The cicada above sings lovely and one can hear it almost everywhere in the forests in NZ.

The day before in Rotorua we were lucky to see the eruption of the Hoputu-geyser (after almost one hour wait). Half of day was spent in Te Puia, a Maori place in the middle of a geothermal area next to the city, incl. live Maori weaving and wood carving. We finally met the famous kiwi (the bird), which looks very cute, but can not fly. A nice stroll in the afternoon in the Government Garden in front of the BathHouse of Rotorua (looking for some shady place). The sun is (I do believe it now!) even worse than in Australia. Even if it gets fresh in the night, once the sun is out, its like burning and hitting at the same time. I never experienced sunshine that feels like a burn at 7.30 pm!

The Maori carver above is especially for Robert + Denise:)a pic from a real local...

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

waw Waimagu...10 km walk!!
Es sieht so schön aus...diese Farbe...es erinnert mich an einen Kuchen mit Karamell oder hönig "bedeckt"!! ;)

BISOUS

Anonymous said...

Super photos! Bravo pour les 10Km!
Bisous,
Jacques

Anonymous said...

merci pour les belles photos et les nouvelles du pays des Maori.
Paysage magnifique et phénomènes naturels surprenants, il nous manque les odeurs...
bisous
maman Denise
papa Robert

Anonymous said...

Яна,
снимките са много хубави, особено гейзера- струва си да се види и снима.
Като гледам има и доста други интересни неща.
Значи, вие тази година ще карате два пъти лятото, а?
Не стойте много на слънце и внимателската с карането. Да се внимава също така, къде се ходи и с кого.
Не забравяйте, че сте в чужбина.
Тука времето се постопли, майче скоро ще ни пускат и газа.
Умната и поздрави на Нико.

целувки,
тати