Today, Monday, was another relatively slow, rainy, internet-less day. We had no planned activities other than to pick up paperwork for the Fiji cruise. After breakfast we headed 
into Rotorua, about a 20 minute drive from where we are staying. Found the travel agency easily and picked up our cruise documentation. Next stop was shopping at the local Rotorua mall for essentials like deodorant, toothpaste, shaving cream, potato chips and water. Also picked up another 4GB flash drive as the camera is getting full. All told, about 8GB of pictures so far.
From the mall we headed out to a place about 20 minutes outside Rotorua called Te Wairoa. On the way to Te Wairoa we stopped at Lake Tikitapu (Blue Lake) and walked through, you guessed it, a fern filled rain forest. And a beautiful one at that with very tall tree and umbrella ferns along with pine trees.
Te Wairoa was a tourist oriented village that was destroyed by a volcanic eruption in 1886. Tourists went there to see the Pink and White Terraces. The Terraces were made of silica deposited by the geysers. As the flowing silica and the hot water cools, terraces are formed. Those of you that are real lucky will get to see pictures of lesser silica terraces that we saw yesterday. Those pictures should be around number 1500 from the start. Buy your tickets now!
Seems there was some advance notice of the volcanic eruption in the form of rapidl
y rising and ebbing lake levels in the days prior, along with earthquakes just before the eruption. The eruption was hot mud and Te Wairoa was buried. It was partially excavated in the 1930s and then again in the 1980s. Our walk through the buried village included streams filled with trout and a beautiful water fall.
From Te Wairoa we drove to Lake Tarawera (it was Mount Tarawera that had erupted in 1886). We took a walk around the lake, passing several beautiful black swans with bright red beaks. We stopped in town for another very good Thai dinner and back to the lodge. We were entertained by a beautiful sunset over the l
ake followed by a surprise hour long sh
ow of fireworks on the south shore of the lake. We are staying on the north shore of Lake Rotorua, the city is on the south shore. I don’t know the occasion, but there were fireworks going off in at least 4 different locations on the opposite shore. Will need to check with our hosts in the morning to see what was going on. Post nightly news update; the fireworks were for Guy Fawkes day. Mike and Vanessa will need to fill us in on specifics. 
into Rotorua, about a 20 minute drive from where we are staying. Found the travel agency easily and picked up our cruise documentation. Next stop was shopping at the local Rotorua mall for essentials like deodorant, toothpaste, shaving cream, potato chips and water. Also picked up another 4GB flash drive as the camera is getting full. All told, about 8GB of pictures so far.From the mall we headed out to a place about 20 minutes outside Rotorua called Te Wairoa. On the way to Te Wairoa we stopped at Lake Tikitapu (Blue Lake) and walked through, you guessed it, a fern filled rain forest. And a beautiful one at that with very tall tree and umbrella ferns along with pine trees.
Te Wairoa was a tourist oriented village that was destroyed by a volcanic eruption in 1886. Tourists went there to see the Pink and White Terraces. The Terraces were made of silica deposited by the geysers. As the flowing silica and the hot water cools, terraces are formed. Those of you that are real lucky will get to see pictures of lesser silica terraces that we saw yesterday. Those pictures should be around number 1500 from the start. Buy your tickets now!
Seems there was some advance notice of the volcanic eruption in the form of rapidl
y rising and ebbing lake levels in the days prior, along with earthquakes just before the eruption. The eruption was hot mud and Te Wairoa was buried. It was partially excavated in the 1930s and then again in the 1980s. Our walk through the buried village included streams filled with trout and a beautiful water fall.From Te Wairoa we drove to Lake Tarawera (it was Mount Tarawera that had erupted in 1886). We took a walk around the lake, passing several beautiful black swans with bright red beaks. We stopped in town for another very good Thai dinner and back to the lodge. We were entertained by a beautiful sunset over the l
ake followed by a surprise hour long sh
ow of fireworks on the south shore of the lake. We are staying on the north shore of Lake Rotorua, the city is on the south shore. I don’t know the occasion, but there were fireworks going off in at least 4 different locations on the opposite shore. Will need to check with our hosts in the morning to see what was going on. Post nightly news update; the fireworks were for Guy Fawkes day. Mike and Vanessa will need to fill us in on specifics. 
Today’s observation:
We miss South Island……..
Christmas displays and advertisements are already out here.
We miss South Island……..
Christmas displays and advertisements are already out here.
1 comment:
guy fawkes day! that sounds like a blast! amaaaazing sunset. no doubt about that!
Post a Comment