Today was certainly a full day of activities. First, I wanted to show you what our hosts did for us - this is in their front yard. The Canadians are in residence.
This is a picture of Lake Rotomahana. Although we didn't do the boat tour (because they were moving the pier from one spot to the other - the water is too shallow where the old pier is), you can see lots more geothermal activity around the lake. All in all, it was a very interesting morning.
We returned to our apartment, had some lunch and decided to relax at the pool for a little bit in the warm sunshine.
We then went to the Rotorua Museum in this beautiful building which used to be a bath house. We saw a great film there of the history of Rotorua and why it came to be - all due to the geothermal activity, of course. In the late 1800s, lots of people would come for the soothing waters, which were piped in from geothermal activity in the area.
This shot was taken of Lake Rotorua from the roof of the museum. Notice the colour of the water on the right - almost milky. That's from the acidity in the water on that side of the lake. We also found out that the whole city of Rotorua is in a giant crater. Hmm.
The evening was filled with a visit to a Maori village, called Mitai, with lots of food and demonstrations of traditional ways. This was dinner while cooking - chicken, lamb, yams, and potatoes. They moved all this to a wonderful buffet.
In the meantime, we watched a display of Mitai Maori warriors going off to battle another tribe up the river. Their oars were used as paddles and weapons. I could have hopped in that boat with them!
And this is a show they put on for us, demonstrating weapons, musical instruments, songs, dances, etc. Quite well done.
Today we drove out to the Waimangu Volcanic Valley. They claim it is the youngest geothermal area in the world, and of course, it's in the Ring of Fire. One of the activities we had booked was a walk through this area out to Lake Rotomahana, and a boat trip of the lake. The walk took us almost 2 hours to complete, but we saw a lot of great stuff on the way.
The first one below is called Frying Pan Lake. You can see the steam coming off the lake and flowing out of vents in the rock above it. In fact, steam is flowing out everywhere around us! After all, we are in a giant cauldron. The 2nd is bubbling water - don't know if it's boiling or air escaping from below the surface. Either way, I'm not touching it.
This is just more of the holes in the earth from where steam escapes. There are lots of them.
Gerard is hot stuff. Mount Tarawera last erupted in June, 1886. Since then, there have been the world's largest geyser (1900-1904), Frying Pan Flat erupted in 1917, and Echo Crater had a hydrothermal eruption in February, 1973.
This is another little crater lake. Beautiful colour from acidity in the water.
As we got out close to the lake, cold water streams mix with the hot water such that life is supported. Black swans are alive and well in this area and on the lake.
This is a picture of Lake Rotomahana. Although we didn't do the boat tour (because they were moving the pier from one spot to the other - the water is too shallow where the old pier is), you can see lots more geothermal activity around the lake. All in all, it was a very interesting morning.
We returned to our apartment, had some lunch and decided to relax at the pool for a little bit in the warm sunshine.
We then went to the Rotorua Museum in this beautiful building which used to be a bath house. We saw a great film there of the history of Rotorua and why it came to be - all due to the geothermal activity, of course. In the late 1800s, lots of people would come for the soothing waters, which were piped in from geothermal activity in the area.
And mud baths were a common thing you could do. This guy was stuck there because the mud hardened!
This shot was taken of Lake Rotorua from the roof of the museum. Notice the colour of the water on the right - almost milky. That's from the acidity in the water on that side of the lake. We also found out that the whole city of Rotorua is in a giant crater. Hmm.
The evening was filled with a visit to a Maori village, called Mitai, with lots of food and demonstrations of traditional ways. This was dinner while cooking - chicken, lamb, yams, and potatoes. They moved all this to a wonderful buffet.
In the meantime, we watched a display of Mitai Maori warriors going off to battle another tribe up the river. Their oars were used as paddles and weapons. I could have hopped in that boat with them!
And this is a show they put on for us, demonstrating weapons, musical instruments, songs, dances, etc. Quite well done.
We went back for an excellent buffet dinner, and after dinner did a walk to the Rainbow Spring, saw some wildlife, including a kiwi bird. That whole section was...well, meh meh.
We didn't get back until about 10:30, and I have to say I was pooched. So I'm writing this the following morning. We're still waking up in the night due to the time change, but do manage to get back to sleep. However, we're up fairly early in the morning.
We're moving on.
Cool, but you are right Gerardo must be hot!
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