It smells like cabbage boiling in rotten eggs

The Lady Knox Geyser
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Haven and I have been real party animals ever since we arrived.  Last night we even stayed up until 10pm.   It gets completely dark by 6pm so it throws off the internal clock a little.  By 8pm I feel like it's midnight and I should be in bed.  That combined with all of the hiking around we've done has resulted in some pretty early nights.  On the plus side, we are up early to enjoy the sunshine.

This morning we decided to check out the geothermal wonders that make Rotorua famous.  All of New Zealand is very geologically active since it sits on top the merge point of two major tectonic plates.  Auckland had little "hills" all over the city and islands in the bay that were really remants of volcanos.  Rotorua, it seems, sits on a spot where the Earth's crust is particularly thin.  The entire area has geysers, hot mineral pools, silicate formations, and a permeating smell of sulfur, which Haven so accurately described as smelling like cabbage boiling in rotten eggs.   You are correct if you think that doesn't smell pleasant.  Luckily, you do get a little used to it.  Unluckily, you don't get completely used to it and it always smells bad.

Stinky but pretty cool looking
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Apparently this area was the site of the largest volcanic eruption in the last 5,000 years.  Somwhere around 150AD a volcano here erupted with such force that it was observed and recorded by both the Chinese and the Romans.  Pretty crazy, huh?

We went down the road to Wai-O-Taupo (that is definitely not spelled correctly) and started the morning off with an impressive geyser. That was followed with lots of boiling lakes in varying shades of green, yellow, white and organe.  My personal favorite was the lake of boiling mud.  It had the added benefit of making really fun slurping sounds as it boiled and bubbled.  The whole area looked like something from anotherworld.  Hopefully we'll get the photos to transfer from Haven's camera and you can take a look.