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- Travel to Rotorua
- Geotherman reserve
- Hells Gate Walk & Spa
Off to Rotorua, on the way stopped at a Geothermal reserve. This involved a short boat trip across a lake, then a self guided tour of the area. This was really spectacular, with heaps of different colours, water spurting out of the ground. The walk took 1 hour and includes incredible vibrant coloured areas with heaps of geothermal activity, going down into a cave with a hot lake at the bottom - really spectacular, boiling mud pools etc… There was far more sights that the "Craters of the moon" and much larger. The water was quite warm - to very hot (after testing various locations with my finger - only hurt twice…), interestingly there was a duck with her ducklings in one area where the water was warm and steaming a lot drinking… they obviously don't mind drinking warm water.
A further 50min drive, and we're at Rotorua - and the solphur smell becomes apparent reasonably quickly as approaching the town - the smell seems to come in waves, fortunately inside the hotel room smells reasonably good.Had some lunch at the hotel - then off to "Hells Gates" thermal park and hot springs. This involved another 1hr walk through a thermal reserve, which was actually again very interesting and quite different from the previous ones, although this one smelt a lot of solphur. The walk passes a number of lakes and streams of hot and boiling water, a mud volcano, some inc Wells (really deep black boiling stuff) and mud pools etc… Following the walk we had a solphur SPA which fortunately didn't smell and was quite relaxing. Unfortunately after leaving, the solphur leaves a smell in bathers and skin that seems impossible to wash out! Hopefully the rafting will help get rid of it tomorrow…
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