Stinkin' it up in Rotorua

Pee-ew!  Rotorua is one stinky town.  It's one of the epicenters of geothermal activity in New Zealand, and as such has a heavily sulfuric smell.  But coming with the smell are some amazing geothermal features, and it's kind of amazing how quickly one can get used to the horrible smell of rotten eggs.

After a morning of Zorbing (more pics and details to come), we headed to the Waimangu Volcanic Valley for a beautiful hike through many volcanic/geothermal features.  We hiked through craters, next to lakes (some incredibly hot and others cold), near hot springs, around steam, and above terraces formed by silica.  The only major geothermal feature we missed was geysers, but we so thoroughly enjoyed our walk that we didn't even miss the geysers (plus the areas with the geysers are all expensive/heavily commercialized).

My favorite spot along the way was the Inferno Crater/Lake which was the most beautiful sky blue color, thanks to its turbulent nature (it rises/ebbs/overflows on a 5-7 week cycle, and as its refilling, it shakes up enough of the natural organisms living in the lake to give it the amazing blue color during a few days of the cycle).

We're now in Wellington, after a looooong afternoon/evening drive, and reunited with Erin!  Yay!  Excited to spend the day with her tomorrow, with her friend Alida showing us the native side of Wellington.