New Zealand 14 Yikes!

We decided to really live it up (it is a holiday, after all) and spring for the private spa mud bath followed by a swim in the sulphur pools. The mud bath was great, it really did feel as if it was de-toxifying the skin. The girl told us not to wear any jewelry in the bath or for 24 hours after or it would turn black which sounded a bit ominous (yikes, this stuff dried on my skin!) but really it was great. 

The sulphur pool was very relaxing and very stinky. Mmmmm....just the way I like it.

 Matt and Cynthia (to be continued) 

New Zealand 13 Hot Sulphur Gurgling Up Through The Earth

 No one got hurt, apparently. That time, if you know what I mean! Anyway, we went to the visitor center where we decided which atttractions to visit and then headed out. Our first stop was Hell's Gate Thermal Park. Now, let me tell you, this place was cool. Well, not in the literal sense, it was actually hot as hell....but very neat. It took about an hour to get through the park and we toured an endless number of boiling mud pools, steaming mud volcanoes and fiery pits of hot sulphur gurgling up through the earth.

Matt and Cynthia (to be continued) 

New Zealand 12 The Whole Town Is Smoldering

 We left Fernland, sadly, and headed for the famous, thermal town of Rotorua. Now let me begin by saying that you smell the town of Rotorua LONG before you see it. I was asleep in the back of the van as we were driving along and Matt thought he was going to have to wake me to let me know there was something wrong with the van- he thought the brakes were burning. 

I thought Matt had bad gas from the Turkish kebab....we were both wrong. It was Rotorua. The first thing we noticed when we drove in is that the whole town appears to be smoldering. It is hard to describe but imagine looking out the window to see great puffs of smoke billowing out from, well, everywhere. It was a sight. The residents are certainly more brave than I am. I felt very uneasy, as if the whole thing would explode any minute. That is just what happened in 2001 according to a "not too re-assuring" signpost.

Matt and Cynthia (to be continued) 

New Zealand 11 Small Alcove Of Ferns

 He said it was unlike any other camp park we were likely to find. It certainly was. This place was far down in a small alcove of ferns and the only way to describe it is "lush tropics". We soon discovered it was a thermal hot spring and our fee for the night included unlimited use of the hot pool. The water is constant 52 degrees celcius and they just made a new bore in the earth so the minerals were concentrated. We decided to go one better and hire the private mineral pool with open sky roof for half an hour. It seemed a bit dirty, kind of like those seedy rent-by-the-hour motel rooms, but we just went along with it. I won't go into detail here but......wow! was it worth it!!

Matt and Cynthia (to be continued)