Rotorua

 Ohh Rotorua. If any of you guys have heard of Rotorua it is for its geothermal activity. If any of you guys know me (Morgan) you know this excites me very, very much, and that is still an understatement. Unfortunately, Rotorua was a bit of a let down. Maybe I had my hopes to high for my first New Zealand geothermal activity, but turns out, Rotorua and the Maori villages that reside next to these geysers, mud boils, hot springs and sulphur springs have completely capitalized on these natural occurrences and huge tourist attractions. I guess, really, who could blame them when all of a sudden thousands of people a year are tramping through your front yards to get a glimpse of a giant geyser erupting at 10 in the morning.

 So unless we had $50 to fork out for a walk around some of the major places where these geothermal activities were happening, we were stuck with the few parks, and by few I mean two, they had open to the public for free. Liz and I first headed to Kuraiu Park, the free place lonely planet tells us to head. When we got there, we pulled into a parking lot surrounded by soccer fields looking around for geothermal activity, chuckling out loud and joking "we'll I guess we get what we paid for." But we headed out in the early morning, coffees in hand, determined to find the activity we knew had to be somewhere. After spotting the steam rising in the distant, we knew that is where we must head.
Geothermal activity at last! Although it was not much, we walked around the path to see boiling water, boiling mud and ponds with steam galore rising off it all of which was surrounded by wooden fences stopping me from getting as close as I really wanted to get, but I know my mom would be glad they were there stopping me from falling in! Although they were small occurrences, I can't let it hold back from the beauty some of the sulphur springs and the colors they can create.
   
After a walk around the park, we headed down to the coast of lake Rotorua  and a point labeled sulphur point on our map. Sounded like my kind of point. As we drove around the coast of the lake and spotted more geothermal activity we parked the car. Liz stayed put reading on a bench while I explored and walked all around to see the springs and mud boils along with all sorts of volcanic rock around. After a bit of a wander, I headed back to Liz where we drove a bit farther down the lake to a picnic site to enjoy our sandwiches, of course, and took some time taking in the beautiful lake with our books.
   
On this trip, we have had a good bit of time to read, unfortunately, books are also very expensive here in New Zealand. After purchasing "Gone Girl" at our first visit to the Warehouse, the store closest to a Walmart here, we have tried to collect the most interesting books we can find left behind at hostels and campsites. So far, we haven't had to buy another book. And although they haven't always been the best reads, they have led us to read books we would have never read before. Currently, I'm in the middle of an war book with half the book in war lingo that I have never heard making it hard to follow at times but I feel like I'm learning a whole new language, and that is something, right?
     
Well, after some good time with the lake and our books, we left Rotorua and its geothermal activity for yet another surf town we were very much looking forward too.