Sunday 29 March 2015

Te Whakarewarewatanga

We headed East heading toward the coast and made a planned stop in Rotorua, a destnation famous for geothermal activity.  We chose to visit a Maori site which is located atop an active area.  It was facinating as the entire area radiates heat from the earth underfoot.  The hot water comes from the heated springs and cooking is done in boiling hot pools of water and or in steam captured in wooden boxes heated from steam coming from below.  One of the pools boils 24/7...others hover at around 90-100 degrees.   Our guide was a Maori woman and she introduced us to many aspects of the Maori culture as she showed us the hot pools and mud pools which are scattered throughout the village.  We were able to stay and see two geysers erupt with a hiss and a huge roar as water and steam were propelled 40 meters into the air.  It was impressive.  We took a walk through the village and visited the hot lake, a large lake which steams and has minieral deposits on the rocks around it.  The entire area has a persistent smell of sulphur.

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