Sunday, February 17, 2013
Rotten eggs!
The night before heading to Rotorua we discovered the free camping spot by the lake in Taupo was full. We got chatting to another couple who suggested an area behind the police station. It sounded safe but not particularly picturesque, however, we were pleasantly surprised when we found it and the boys enjoyed breakfast with a view the next morning.
Upon arriving in Rotarua the smell of sulphur was so intense that Oliver and William declared it the 'smelliest place ever'. Apparently the earth's crust on the whole is between 10 and 100 km thick. Whereas in Rotorua it is only 5km thick resulting in hot water boiling and steaming close to the surface releasing sulphur, hence the smell.
We visited the Thermal Wonderland outside Rotorua and were treated to an other world landscape of mineral terraces, mulitcououred pools and bubbling mud.
Much to the boys delight we arrived in time to see Lady Knox Geyser blowing her top. Generally this geyser goes off every 24 -72 hours. However, in the nineteenth century a group of prisoners washing their clothes in the naturally hot water set it off due to the soap disturbing the surface tension of the cool water allowing the hot water to force up and the geyser to erupt. Hence the geyser now erupts at 1015 every day. Sam and I had a 'how times have changed' moment here when the guide told us that they now use an organic material to set it off rather than soap powder as it has no environmental impact. Thirteen years ago, when we were here, soap powder was fine!
The following morning we set off to the nearby Buried Village. In 1886 there was a spectacular eruption of Mount Tarawera which destroyed many villages in it's vicinity. However, the village of Te Wairoa was saved from the worst damage by nearby hills but was buried in mud! In effect this preserved it until about 80 years ago when the Smith family begun to excavate it and have been doing so ever since. It was a place we particularly wanted to visit as after the eruption the Earl of Onslow bought the remains of the Meeting House from the village and shipped it to England and erected it in his garden at Clandon House in Guildford! I discussed this with the guide who had a photo of 'our meeting house' and rather fiercely told me that until UK law changes they can't get it back!
Our thoroughly modern tour of the village and museum was conducted via an itouch which was excellent and kept us all interested. After walking through the village we headed down to the valley to get a good view of a waterfall.
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