Matthew just had a break from school and we decided to go to Rotorua for a couple of days:
"Rotorua, Taupo and much of the central North Island lie in an area geologists call the Taupo Volcanic Zone. It is a very distinctive area of mountains, lakes and a landscape that everywhere bears the trace of volcanic activity."
You can literally smell the sulfur in the air from the volcanoes! Matt said the smell wasn't nearly as bad as it had been when had last visited Rotorua. Apparently the smell was really strong and omnipresent then. But we only really caught whiffs of sulfur in certain areas thankfully!While there, we went hiking in the Waimangu Valley:
2"In the Maori language Waimangu means "black water" but whether this name is describing the dark waters of
some of the pools in this incredible valley, or the dark event that created and shaped the area, Waimangu Valley is
a 20 minute trip south from Rotorua that must not be missed.In 1886 Mount Tarawera erupted in a devastating explosion of ash and lava, ripping the mountain in two and gouging a 17 kilometer rift into the landscape. Lake Rotomahana swelled to twenty times its size and the seven craters that make up the geothermal utopia that is Waimangu, were created.
beauty left behind after a volcanic eruption. Thirty years after the explosion, plant life returned in abundance and the hot pools and springs display multicoloured rock and amazing coloured water."
See how inviting this nice blue pool of water looks? Well its basically a pool of acid so no jumping in!
1.http://www.rotorua.nz.com/volcanoes.aspx
2.http://www.rotorua.nz.com/waimangu.aspx
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