Rotorua

I caught an early morning bus from Auckland to head to Waitomo caves to see the glowworms. I arrived there around 10 am and just did a small tour. The cave was explored in 1887 by a Maori chief and an English surveyor who discovered that the millions of little lights were illuminated by larva of the glowworm. They emit light to attract its food and have long sticky lines hanging down to catch flying insects. Once caught, they draw up and devour the insect. So, the hungrier they are, the brighter they get! I wish I could post a photo, but we couldn't take pictures in the cave because of camera flashes. It really was like looking up at stars in a cave... only green in colour :)
After, we hopped back on the bus and arrived in Rotorua at 1:30 pm. You can instantly smell the sulphur in the air. Took about a day to get used to it. What a cool town! There was steam coming up from hot water pools or mud pools all over the place. Such a thermal active area! I loved it.
I checked into the Funky Green Voyager hostel which had a homey feel. Very comfortable and clean place. After talking to the receptionist, she asked if I wanted to go with the cleaning lady, Claudia from Germany, to Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. Seeing how Claudia had rented a car, it was a perfect opportunity. So off we went. I hadn't even been at the hostel for 15 mins! Lol!
Wai-O-Tapu means sacred waters in Maori language. It was fantastic. Unbelievable the power mother nature has. The hot pools temperatures were up to 100 degrees Celsius, so no swimming here folks! The steam was wonderful. You warmed up instantly, had your sinuses become completely clear, and facial pores opened. So refreshing! There were many different colours coming up from the earth's core.
Here are some examples:

Green = colloidal sulphur/ferrous salts
Orange = antimony
Purple = manganese oxide
White = silica
Yellow-primrose = sulphur
Red-brown = iron oxide
Black = sulphur and carbon

The area was about 18 sq. km, and covered with collapsed craters, cold and boiling pools of mud, water and steaming fumaroles and the volcanic dome of Maungakakaramea (Rainbow Mountain). The area dates back about 160,000 years of volcanic activity and is located on the right edge of the Taupo Volcanic Zone. Streams are heated underground by magma left over from earlier eruptions and temperatures have been recorded up to 300 degrees Celsius! The hot water absorbs minerals out of the rocks and carries them to the surface where we see the different colours and smell the "rotten egg small" created by hydrogen sulphide. Nice. Ha ha.
We spent 2 hours walking around then checked out the bubbling mud pool. It was explosive! Some of the bubbles were huge and mud would fly a good distance. There are many places in town that have spas using the warm water and mud for facials.
On our way back to the hostel, we stopped by Kerosene Creek were you could swim in a natural hot spring. It was so nice. I spent the rest of the evening chatting up my fellow travellers and made pasta with veggies and tofu for supper.

The next day, I went on a hike with 2 friends from the hostel, Deborah from Germany (yes, there are a lot of Germans here) and Sebastian from England. We drove to a forest called Redwoods. Named after the trees, Coastal Californian Redwood. The largest trees here stand around 67 metres tall and 169 cm in diameter. They have nothing on those Kauri trees though!
There were 6 walking trails, but we just walked one that went around the forest, as it was the longest one that was open in the winter. Took us 2.5 hours to roam through. Saw many different species of fern, including the national emblem, the Silver Fern. It reminded me of the movie, Jurassic Park.
The Silver Fern is a really neat plant. The Maori people used to use it when they were hiking in the forest. They would take a piece off the plant and place it on the ground back side up. The underside is a pale colour and when the moonlight or torch light shines on it, it reflects back like a beacon leading the way back home. Just like the story Hansel and Gretel.
After the hike, Sebastian and I went to check out one of the Maori villages. We saw Whakarewarewa village. There is about 23 different families who actually live in the village and use the hot pools for cooking, bathing, and making decorative skirts. They also use the steam to cook all sorts of food and heat their home. We watched a demonstration on how to make the skirt out of flax, and a cultural performance with singing and dancing. It included the war dance the "haka." They stick their tongues out in a show of defiance. It's quite intimidating!
They have a small geyser that erupts throughout the day every hour. The bathing pools are dug outs that are filled up by the natural hot spring flowing down a channel. The natural minerals give the water an oily feel, so the people don't use any shampoo or soaps. Au natural! The ground however is unstable. If you stomp on it, you can feel the vibration as the surface is not to thick. One of the houses had an area that collapsed inside and now has steam rising up inside the home. They were still in the process of sectioning off the area so the house could be removed safely. Scary! Amazing these people still live here! But they sure make use of their resources.
I spent today just roaming around town and checking out the local market of arts and crafts. I found a job painting for my exchange of accommodation north of here in a town called Thames so I'll head there tomorrow.