Images of Rotorua

We arrived in Rotorua last Saturday, mid afternoon.  My parents were already at the Holiday Park so after ensuring the milk, wine and beer were chilling in the fridge, we took off for the lake front.  The town was buzzing with a military tattoo celebration!  We enjoyed the bagpipes in the background while the kids messed around in the park.  Then, we crossed over to take a walk by the lake.  There were definitely opportunities to see the volcanoes from the sky - docked at the small 'marina' were a glider plane and helicopter. Sofia spotted children inside large plastic balls floating on the water.  She begged and pleaded to get inside one to ‘walk’ on the lake…  We succumbed and poof! Sofia became a very happy hamster for five or ten minutes.  Afterwards, it was back to the cabin for a typical night filled with swimming, cocktails and a great meal.

Our cabin in the Holiday Park...

Monkeying around...

The beauteous Lake Rotorua

  

Walking on water...

Rotorua is affectionately coined “Rotten-rua”.  That's par for the course when a town is located in a thermal park where there is an abundance of hydrogen sulphide!  However, with the bad you also get the good - and the colours we saw in this natural wonderland were amazing!  On Sunday morning, we went to Wai-O-Tapu thermal park, which has the largest area of surface thermal activity of all the hydrothermal systems in the Taupo Volcanic Zone.  The area is home to collapsed craters, cold and boiling pools of mud, water and steaming fumaroles.  We only got to see a very small portion of what exists.  Our first stop was at the Lady Knox Geyser.  After seeing this geyser coerced into activity by the addition of 'surfactants', we took a leisurely walk around the thermal park.  The pictures we took don't do this place justice -- but suffice to say it was pretty awesome.  There were signs all over the place to remind us all how hot the water was -- this point was made very clearly by one very organized group of people who brought eggs and boiled them in one of the pools for their lunch…  Now, I suspect this is highly frowned upon, but I thought it rather clever!  

Lady Knox Geyser

Interpreter - about to add the surfactant...

Lady Knox Geyser on display

Sofia trying to get wet!

Boiling mud pool

Overflow of water from "Champagne Pool" - great variety of colours could be seen

Family shot...

Loved the red at the edge of the water... (caused by iron oxide)

All natural - yellow result of sulphur

This might be the "Oyster Pool"

Nearing the end of our walk...

The finale -- known as "Devil's Bath" - colour is the result of excess water from Champagne Pool mixing with sulphur and ferrous salts.

We ended up driving back to Auckland the long way, making a stop for a late lunch in Taupo. We returned to Auckland Sunday night in time to relax over a late dinner.  Great end to the weekend.

My parents flew to Queenstown on Monday afternoon.  By now they have been to Milford Sound, Christchurch, and should be in Kaikoura.  Blenheim (wine country) and Nelson await them, before they leave the south island via ferry for Wellington.  From there, they take the train back to Auckland. 

The week has been a typical one for us full of school and weekly activities.  I went to the Auckland Zoo with Sofia and her year 2 classmates.  I will let her tell the story from her perspective on her blog.

On the agenda for the upcoming weekend will be mother/daughter shopping on Saturday while the boys are watching one day International Cricket (NZ versus South Africa)!  Hopefully Sunday will be a decent day – it would be nice to act like tourists and check out Auckland some more...