We said farewell to our lovely hosts at the farm, and set off back to the meeting place in Matamata, where we were picked up by the bus and set off for Rotorua. The landscape consisted of small but steep and very green hills, and these are apparently rocks shot out by the volcano. The bus didn't stop, so I have no pictures, but the landscape is very distinctive.
We stopped at Lake Rotorua to take some pictures,
and admire the handsome black swans.
If you had time, you could take a scenic flight on a sea plane, or even a trip round the lake on a paddle wheel boat. We had no time, we were due at the Museum. The Museum was originally built in 1901 as a bath house, in what is described as 'Tudor Style'. I would have called it Tudor Gothic or even Bavarian!
We were there a bit early though, so we had time to look at the original hot spring used for the baths, whose temperature is given as 212 degrees F - (or 100 degrees C).
We also had time to attend the brief Remembrance Day ceremony.
Our museum guide was a Maori cloak maker, so was wearing one of her creations. She took us into the cinema, where we watched a production on the history of Rotorua and when we got to the story of the last eruption, we got earthquaked! Our seats bumped and heaved in time with the earthquake rumbling, which gave some of us a bit of a fright at first.
We were conducted round the Maori part of the museum, where photos were not allowed. We learned a bit about the history of the people of that area, and more about the area before and after the last eruption. Before the eruption, there were terraces much like those we visited in Pammukale in Turkey - terraces like icing sugar, forming small pools of warm water that people could bathe in. These were all destroyed in the eruption, and villages were buried.
After lunch back in the town, we went to the Waiotapu Thermal Wonderland, where there is lots of geothermal activity. We took the longest of the walks so we could see everything. There were no geysers, and the mud and water colours were mostly far more muted than those we saw at Yellowstone.
The landscape was more interesting though, everything was greener than at Yellowstone, and the ground appeared more stable so there were fewer boardwalks. The smell, however, was much, much worse than that at Yellowstone.
There were some very colourful pools, as well as those that were merely hot or steamy. This is the Champagne Pool
The colour of the one called The Devil's Bath is quite amazing, a very bright lime green. I'm afraid my camera didn't quite capture it, so I am indebted to Dave, whose camera made a better job of it.
We returned to Rotorua and our hotel and I had a free hour to do the first bit of this blog. Then we had to get into our bus to go to Te Po - a Maori Cultural Experience. It went very much like the last one - the welcome for which you have to stand quietly and respectfully,
the taking off of the shoes to go into the marae or meeting house. We had songs and dances, some of the women (not me) had to learn the poi and so on. Before we got to the Haka, the fire alarm went off and we had to evacuate the building and wait for the fire brigade.
After about half an hour, they abandoned any more ceremony and went to eat. This was a traditional hangi, which is food cooked in the hot ground. (In places outside Rotorua, where there is no hot ground, they have to heat stones in the fire). There were lots of starters before we got to the cooked meat, and lots of desserts afterwards.
After that, we were taken down in an electric vehicle to see a geyser called Pohutu erupting - which it did, exactly on cue!
I'm afraid the photo isn't great, it was taken at night, just before 9 pm, but you can clearly see the two different jets of water shooting out.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
No comments:
Post a Comment