Hot stuff

    New Zealand is composed of volcanic islands... some of them haven't erupted in thousands of years and some have blown their tops within the past 200.
    The result is some of the world's most spectacular scenery and places like the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Park, which is not far from Rotorua. It's a huge place filled with bubbling (literally) springs, streams that you can boil an egg in and some amazingly beautiful colors caused by mineral deposits that are forced to the surface by the heat below.
    We stopped there for a morning on our 5-day road trip to Auckland and back and wandered through the park, pausing long enough to watch a small geyser erupt before continuing our trek through a landscape that is almost too fantastic to describe.
    You can't go into the water at the park - it's hot enough to scald you - but a couple of kilometers away there is a small area where you can jump in. It has no facilities so you have to find a convenient tree to change from street clothes into a bathing suit and you need to pack a lunch if you plan to stay for awhile. There is a stream running through the area, complete with a couple of small waterfalls that empty into pools that are about six feet deep where you can soak to your heart's content. Josep's cousin Elena met up with a couple of friends from Spain who have been traveling in Australia and New Zealand for more than a year now, trading their skills as engineers for room and board. After trekking through the park with us, they took us to this area where they and the two Elenas spent about an hour in the water. (I didn't get in because, while it would have been nice, the banks are too steep for me to climb up these days. Josep didn't get in because, well, he's 13 and didn't see much value in the whole thing...)
   

A small geyser at the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Park just starting to bubble as the pressure builds up.

... and thar she blows.

The park has dozens of these multi-colored sinkholes, some with hot water in them, some that are dry.

The colors are amazing...

... really, really amazing.

Small stream running through the park... the water temperature is too high for you to swim in it...

... but not far away is another stream, complete with a couple of waterfalls, that you can safely swim in...

... and so Josep's cousin Elena, two friends from Spain who have been traveling in Australia and New Zealand for more than a year and Elena did just that.