ROTORUA - NZ

Our first stop was to Orakei Korako.  We took a small ferry and spent the next hour and a half walking around hot pools and mud puddles.  It was a nice walk and we learned a lot about native bushes, but not much in the way of guysers.

Next day we went to Waio-tapu.  The guyser went off at 10.15 exactly! with the help of some soap flakes.  It was pretty spectacular and worth having to backtrack a bit to get there. The most interesting thing though was that the woman sitting next to my better half turned out to have gone to the same school I did in England.  You have to realize that Runton Hill was a school for girls in Norfolk and only had about 100 girls so it is extremely rare to find anyone else that has gone there.  We had an interesting time reminiscing about the place.  Quite a weird coincidence!

I loved the bubbling mud.  The mud seemed so fine, it reminded me of the slip we used for pottery.  It made delicious slurping and burping sounds.  Quite mesmerizing.

There were lots of interesting things to see along the walk after the guyser show.  I liked this interesting bark on our walk through the trees.

This pool was the most amazing green colour.  There was also the champagne pool which had the tiniest little bubbles in it.  It was a fascinating area with lots to see.

More mud puddles on our way out.

In the afternoon, we just got back to Te Puia in time for our 3 o'clock appointment to see the Maori show.  We were greeted by a rather fierce looking Chief, who guided us into the building where we were entertained with the Hukka, various dancing and singing by Maoris in traditional dress.  We were toured around the grounds and saw the guysers, not as spectacular as the one we had seen earlier - but really interesting.  We sat on some hot rocks and went to the Kiwi enclosure.  There were several buildings which housed wood carving craftsmen and another where women were weaving and using flax leaves to make various clothing and hangings.  They were very generous with their knowledge and I spoke to the ladies for quite a long time asking them many questions.  It was an extremely well run and educational place, run entirely by Maori people.