Move over Brian Cox

Bubbling mud, volcanoes, geysers – these were some of our must dos.

A one and a half hour boat trip from Whakatane took us to White Island, an active volcano named by James Cook because of the white “cloud” that lingers over the island. The hard hats and gas masks seemed unnecessary as we transferred to a dinghy to access the island – we were wrong. With an appearance more suited to a sci-fi film set and lunar landscape, this is an island that nature continues to remodel. 

 

Yellow sulphur fumaroles, steam vents, mica-laden streams… And then the gaseous air hit us and we quickly donned our masks. Lunch on the sun-drenched boat deck, pilot whales, and a spectacular boat ride home, all rounded off an incredible day.

Rotorua is known for the rotten-eggs smell that pervades the town, something we’d previously experienced in Iceland. On the edge of town is the Te Whakarewarewa thermal valley at Te Puia, where the fun begins. Heading towards the geysers, we came across bubbling mud. Strange as it seems, it’s fascinating watching the “plop, plop, plop”, as the mud gently bubbles and bursts, occasionally splattering the adjourning bushes with a greyish-brown coating. And then to the geysers themselves that were far more impressive than our gale-lashed experience at Geysir in Iceland. The one downside is the relentless streams of coach parties passing through; however, this was a great reminder of our decision to see NZ self-drive, giving us time to linger rather than be herded around. The rest of the valley which was deserted as the coach parties only stick to the main area. More pools of bubbling mud, little pools of steaming water, and the occasional sensation of the ground quivering.

However, it’s possible to come across bubbling mud and thermal springs all around the countryside. We visited a much larger and deserted mud pool off State Highway 5 south of Rotorua where we also located a geocache. Don’t know what a geocache is? There’s a separate blog entry that covers caching.