on to the land of smoke

In the morning after stopping in our forest oasis we spot a fast flowing river through a deep gorge. We drive down to the foot of it to discover large silver pipes and industrial looking stuff that seems to be a power plant of sorts. Alarms start to go off very loudly, baffled and a bit scared we turn around and screw off into the distance.
Before arriving at Taupo we stop off for the best iced coffee I've ever had in a normally insignificant town. I say normally because it looks like any other. First off it has an odd name, Bulls. Not sure why but that's that. It seems the local council and town folk have taken to playing on the town's quirky name. The rubbish bins in town are large milk churns. Most of the local businesses have similar style signage but with different slogans on. I'm not sure if I was tired or just feeling odd that day but I thought this was great, even if the slogans were a bit cheesy. The town social club's sign read - 'Bulls Social Club - Be Socia-bull'. The local bank was of course, 'Bank-a-bull'. Even local politicians couldn't help themselves on posters promoting their campaign, 'Bulls - a town like no udder'.
Moving on.
We reach the largest lake in NZ to discover it's not the best looking lake in NZ. Still it's alright. Many people skydive above here for the views but limited time mean we can't. Still, I think I'd rather do it over Queenstown.
On the way to our next overnight destination you start to see changes in the landscape, i.e. it's steaming. Steam rises from random spots in the countryside. We stop at a thermal spa place, and instead of paying for that malarky we check out the free, and unsignposted, park next door. Bubbling water and hot pools threw steam at us and they even had small baths for public use, as well as a Maori underground oven.
Further up the road was a place we had to pay to get in, damn it! But it was worth it. 'Crators of the moon' it was called, catchy. Around here more Lord of the rings stuff was filmed, evil sections apparently. You can totally see why. The place is a large crator that has steam pouring out of spots all over. Bubbling mud creates that rotten egg smell and is does whiff quite bit. Walking round the place feels like you're part of some 80's pop video with the dry ice machine on full blast.
It's a desolate landscape but somehow quite attractive and the warm steam engulfing us warms the cockles I tell thee. The whole/hole thing is just insane and bits of it keep falling into the abyss as time goes one. You can hear sounds like kettles boiling as the water beneath the surface boils and tries to break through.
On the road again and we reach Huka falls. Not really what I call falls, more like a very fast flowing channel from Taupo. Many a jetboat ride goes through here going periously close to rocks at breakneck speed.
Rotorua stinks. It whiffs, I mean. The geothermal activity going on here and around is like nothing I've ever encountered. I don't know how people live here. It seems to me that the whole place is ready to blow!
On the edge of town is a large geyser that gushes water up into the air at 10am every morning. We find out that it needs a little 'help' to do it from the staff who add baking soda to produce the 'natural' wonder. We don't bother going.
Rotorua is a nice place with a huge presidential palace and gardens that seem a bit out of place but look good anyway.
Right next to were we stop, right beside the rather smelly Lake Rotorua, is another geothermal park with plenty of bubbling mud pools and a large-ish pink/purple/green lake that is like something from Mars. I felt like looking around for a special effects guy because it seemed totally unbelievable. Very beautiful even if it was like Firday the 13th.
Right next door was a local market which was good mix of Maoris and Pakea(the white dudes) that again is something we never saw the likes of in Australia. Rotorua has one of the biggest Maori populations in New Zealand and they seem really friendly too.
And all this for absolutely nothing. Obviously I loved it. Coffee and samosas all round! Not a bad way to start the day.
On the edge of town we check out Blue Lake, which looked green, and Green Lake, which looked blue. No we didn't get them mixed up. Nearby this was the site of a large volcanic eruption a hundred or so years ago. This eruption wiped out local villages, one of which is now a tourist attraction, 'The buried village'(looked pretty new to me) and also a previous tourist attraction, Pink and White terraces. This used to be a top place to visit to see the brightly coloured stepped landscape produced by the chemical reactions going off all over this place.
Whilst cruising around the edge of town we spot some people in swimming costumes and towels by the side of the road in the middle of a forest. We then realise that people walk down to some natural hot pools beneath the roadside. As they charge for this down the road we thought this would be cracking opportunity to have a go for free.
It was freezing out of the water but once in it got scorching. It was very relaxing to be in pretty cold temperatures outside only in my shorts but in steaming hot water. Where some soil had fallen away near the river bank someone had placed candles and it was all pretty idillic. Except afterwards when we realised our clothes stunk! But that's the price you pay!
On to our final destination, Auckland. A dull ride for the last few hours. I can't believe people live anywhere near Auckland when there's soo much else going on in this insane and beautiful country.