Today I drove further north to Rotorua, NZ. On the way I passed a place that looked like it had a great hike. Why not? I did part of the trail figuring I didn't have time to do the whole thing. On the way up I noticed a break in the brush on one side where people had left the trail to explore. It looked like it had quite a bit of foot traffic even though it wasn't officially part of the trail. What I saw mystified my mind. There were steam vents everywhere. I've never seen anything like this before. Rotorua has quite a bit of geothermal activity and this area I was hiking through was no exception. I'd see even more impressive sights over the next few days.
I arrived at my campground, set up my tent, then headed to town. I was craving pizza so I got the buffet at a Pizza Hut. I know, I know. True to my ways I started out the meal with a salad. The salad bar was lacking to say the least. Then it came time to add the dressing. Two options. One looked like pudding under the lights they had in the salad bar area, the other.... Catalina dressing? I went with the Catalina dressing? (it seems appropriate to leave the question mark attached to its name). I plopped some on my salad then went back to my table and ate. Hmmmm.... tastes like... ketchup. There were fries on another part of the food bar so I'm going to go with ketchup on this one. As far as I know, there was no dressing there.
I woke up the next morning feeling quite cold even though the sun seemed to be up. Turns out I had the only campsite along the one side with shade. A tree on the other side of the fence was blocking the sun from hitting and warming up my tent. I asked to move to another site so that I could wake up to a warmer tent the next morning. There were just a few campers this time of year, so it was an easy adjustment.
On the 16th I went to Wai-o-tapu, an active geothermal area with amazing exhibitions of geothermal activity. This meant strange natural colors and formations. I saw neon green ponds, steam vents covered in a rainbow of different colors, and boiling mud pits. Fascinating to think this occurs naturally. In keeping with the way the trip had gone up until that point, I met and talked with a couple from Ireland while walking and two girls from France.
On the 17th I stayed back at the campground getting caught up online and planning out my next few days. The internet at this campground was the fastest I'd seen in NZ. Take advantage of it while you have it. I met a young couple from the UK that I talked to while we all prepared our dinners and a few others including someone I had seen at my campground in Taupo a few days ago. I'll miss all these random encounters.
I arrived at my campground, set up my tent, then headed to town. I was craving pizza so I got the buffet at a Pizza Hut. I know, I know. True to my ways I started out the meal with a salad. The salad bar was lacking to say the least. Then it came time to add the dressing. Two options. One looked like pudding under the lights they had in the salad bar area, the other.... Catalina dressing? I went with the Catalina dressing? (it seems appropriate to leave the question mark attached to its name). I plopped some on my salad then went back to my table and ate. Hmmmm.... tastes like... ketchup. There were fries on another part of the food bar so I'm going to go with ketchup on this one. As far as I know, there was no dressing there.
I woke up the next morning feeling quite cold even though the sun seemed to be up. Turns out I had the only campsite along the one side with shade. A tree on the other side of the fence was blocking the sun from hitting and warming up my tent. I asked to move to another site so that I could wake up to a warmer tent the next morning. There were just a few campers this time of year, so it was an easy adjustment.
On the 16th I went to Wai-o-tapu, an active geothermal area with amazing exhibitions of geothermal activity. This meant strange natural colors and formations. I saw neon green ponds, steam vents covered in a rainbow of different colors, and boiling mud pits. Fascinating to think this occurs naturally. In keeping with the way the trip had gone up until that point, I met and talked with a couple from Ireland while walking and two girls from France.
On the 17th I stayed back at the campground getting caught up online and planning out my next few days. The internet at this campground was the fastest I'd seen in NZ. Take advantage of it while you have it. I met a young couple from the UK that I talked to while we all prepared our dinners and a few others including someone I had seen at my campground in Taupo a few days ago. I'll miss all these random encounters.
A geothermal mud pool in action: