Wednesday, November 23, 2011

New Zealand: Day 5-6

Catching up? Read about our trip to New Zealand here and here.

On the fourth day of our vacation we left Waitomo and drove to Rotorua, which is a city known for its geothermal activity. While we were there we explored the thermal reserves, including Te Puia, a Maori cultural centre. It's home of the Pohutu Geyser, the largest active geyser in the southern hemisphere. It reaches heights of 25-30 metres and is quite the impressive sight.

After taking a guided tour, we spent a while walking around on our own, looking at the boiling mud pools and thermal springs that reach temperatures higher than 100 degrees celcius.

We also went to Wai-O-Tapu, another thermal reserve, where we walked through trails at our own pace. Here is the Lady Knox geyser in all her glory.

Here's M&m in front of the Champagne Pool.



While in Rotorua we also took a Skyline gondola ride up Mount Ngongotaha. This is one of the few sights that Little m's been awake to see!

While I stayed with the babe, Mike took a luge ride down the side of the mountain and then a chair lift back up.
Then he proceeded to eat a very long hotdog. That’s what she said.

Rotorura was a lovely place to visit and not nearly as smelly as I had heard it would be! Good times.

5 comments:

  1. Holy cow! What a wild ride - literally. Little m is so lucky to have these pictures to look at later and marvel at where she was!

    So I assume you heard it was smelly because of sulphur??

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  2. Thanks for updating us. It makes me want to go to New Zealand more and more even if I don't like long plane rides. I bet Little m will want to return to New Zealand when she is older.

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  3. Looks like you are having a great vacation so far!

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  4. your mom and I had exactly the same thought when we saw that second pic.."who's got Maren"...lol..she sure is concealed in that pic...

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  5. It also took me a second to figure out where little m was in the second picture!! By the way, Mark would be thrilled with the "That's what she said" comment :)

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