I wrote recently about The Secret South of New Zealand. Well tomorrow I am off to the mystical "Sulphur City" of Rotorua in the North Island .... for two nights and three days ... home of geysers, scenic mud pools, exotic thermal areas...and the delicate aroma of sulphur everywhere. I know I will get used to it quickly - it just always amuses me to smell it on arrival.
I am booked to stay on the shores of Lake Rotorua - in a nice hotel, handy to the convention centre where the annual Vet and Vet Nursing Conferences are being held...Not sure I will get time this visit to appreciate the sights, but I have been there 3-4 times before. If you are visiting, then try to go here... it is very different.
Extract from New Zealands Online Magazine
Distinctive features of Rotorua noticed immediately by the visitor are the smell of sulphur and the steam rising from the ground from many bores around the city.Rotorua District has four major thermal areas - Whakarewarewa, Waimangu, Waiotapu and Hell's Gate. The village of Whakarewarewa is one of Rotorua's best known and most active thermal areas and can be reached on foot from the city centre. Pohutu geyser, which erupts about twenty times a day and can spout up to 100 feet, is a popular attraction at Whakarewarewa. There you can also see hot bubbling mud pools, hot springs, and a Maori pa
It doesn't pay to stray too far off the tracks round these parts - that water is boiling...
and of course mud, mud, glorious mud...
.One of my favourite places we visited was the hidden valley of "Orakei Korako", between Rotorua and Taupo... (little known fact - Lake Taupo is officially a volcanic crater lake and is visible from the moon...)Their official site is here- with wonderful photos...perhaps the best part is that you can only get there by boat :)
or check out Wikipaedia on Orakei Korako or if you are planning to visit New Zealand - check out these photos from the North Island.... which also has Rotorua in them ... or go here ...
Quite like this montage from Trek Nature too
:)
