New Zealand - Rotorua

Rotorua is smack-bang in the middle of loads of volcanic activity. There are volcanic "wonderlands" to visit where and walk between incredible multi-coloured pools, geysers that spew water twenty meters into the air, bubbling mud ponds and hot springs. But you can see a lot of it just walking through the town's park. It's even weirder in a way to see smoke coming out of holes in the ground right next to people's houses! We've seen some fantastic sights, but to be honest I think I'm a bit volcanoed out! What with this and all we saw in South America I'm reaching the bottom of my volcano-related awe pools!



Also I have to admit that my views might have been slightly tainted by the experience of standing on a wooden viewing platform over-looking some bubbling lake or other when I somehow managed to get my leg wedged between the wooden bars! Ben's so-called attempts to help me just resulted in me shouting at him, so he ignored me and carried on taking photos (not of me - I'd have killed him!). I was stuck there for ages and in the end had to scrounge some suntan lotion from some strangers to use as a lubricant to squeeze my now bruised knee out! How embarrassing!

The countryside around here really is beautiful though. Rivers and lakes with water so clear you can see right to the bottom, surrounded by tropical forests full of ferns. I'm loving exploring and seeing what mother nature has to offer, and we've parked up in some spectacular spots. What views to wake up to in a morning.



We had a lovely, romantic Valentine's Day here too :0) We celebrated with a BBQ (not something you could do in the UK!) and some delicious New Zealand wine (which went straight to my head thanks to my current healthy on-the-waggon status!) Ben's Rotorua highlight though is probably the 3D maze that he got pretty excited about and (unsurprisingly given my very recent semi-conversion to puzzling) was far better at than me!

Ben, you'll be pleased to hear, has now upped his previous "it's alright" opinion of New Zealand to "it's good". Not particularly articulate but an improvement none-the-less!



Ben:
There are more photos here.