First thing we did in Rotorua was meet up with a fly fishing guide. We got decked out in waders and hit the trail for a hike to the river. We spent the rest of the afternoon fishing. The river was so clear, that I could see a few large trout swim by ... right by my feet. With the help of our guide, we perfected our fly fishing technique. Maybe next time we might even catch a fish!
Robin had developed a respiratory infection that she could not seem to shake. We spent a couple of hours at the urgent care center, had a nebulizer treatment, got some antibiotics and an inhaler, and were good to go.
Rotorua is an area that is noted for having lots of thermal activity. While there are hot pools, mud pots, steam vents, geysers, and other features spread out across town, the Wai-O-Tapu geothermal park is an area that has lots of these features compressed into one area.
Some of the most interesting features were a crater called devil's home, deposits of sulfur crystals around rainbow crater, a series of mud pools called devil's ink pots, all of the different colored deposits around the champagne pool, and a small green lake called devil's bath.
There is a bright orange algae called trentepohlia that grows on many of the plants and trees in the thermal park. It looks very strange and out of place to see the bright orange clinging to the tree bark. We also saw some beautiful spider webs that were wet with the morning dew.
This geyser was discovered in 1901 by a gang of prisoners who were doing work in the area. They planned to wash their clothes in the warm water spring, but when they added detergent the geyser erupted.
Currently, eruptions can last up to an hour and the water shoots out of the vent to a height of about 65 feet.
This lake was formed by the massive eruption of Mt Tarawera in 1886. The lake fills about 15 volcanic craters that joined together during the eruption. We spent a delightful couple of hours cruising the lake and looking at all of the thermal features.
The area is still very thermally active and steam vents and a geyser are apparent at various spots around the lake. The black swans that live in the area enjoy hanging out in the warm waters near the vents.
We managed to fit in a visit to the Hobbiton set on the Alexander farm. It was really a kick to see the Hobbit Houses and to hear all of the stories about construction of the site and filming of the movies.
Hobbit holes were built in different sizes so that a hobbit would look small and other characters would look larger next to the hole. It was a tight squeeze to fit in to the narrow space behind the window, but what a view.
Most of the Hobbit holes shown here are from the original Lord of the Rings movies. There are, however, some of the new homes that were built for the new Hobbit movie.
