High school volcano project IRL

So we’ve finally left Auckland… until we drive through it in 2 days… and then again on the 9th to meet Miranda’s parents.

Anyways, for now we head to Rotorua; forever known as Rotten-Rua. The town smells of Sulphur due to all the thermal activity in and around town (many people complain on TripAdvisor that they should really do something about that “egg smell” *facepalm*). We stayed at the local Rotary Club. It was filled with all sorts of “characters”, talking loudly, playing pool and darts, singing bad karaoke. It was quite the scene. Miranda nor I understood why people come here. The #2 attraction is the Cat Cafe, across the street from our hotel – it closed moments before we arrived so we did not experience it. The town itself is largely run down with expensive shops and food. Tourists rush in and spend money all day, then leave at night. There’s a large Polynesian spa that people line up for, it looked similar to Scandinave in Collingwood, but not as nice (or quiet).

30 minutes outside Rotorua is 1 / 3 geysers in the world (according to Nicky, our sassy volcanic guide! I subsequently looked it up, and there are 5 places in the world that have geysers and I’ve now seen 2). That being said, Lady Knox, as she’s known, was more like a high school volcano project than a proper geyser (like the one we saw in Iceland). Nicky set up her speaker and told us a story about how prisoners came across the thermal area while planting trees as part of prison duty. They would bathe in the warm waters as hot water was quite rare back then. One day one of them dropped soap into the water and BOOM, geyser. Nicky then proceeded to drop a bag of what I imagine is baking soda into the “geyser” and voila, volcano! Needless to say, we were underwhelmed.

The rest of the thermal park was far more unique and interesting. They call it a Thermal Wonderland, and it certainly is! The area is scattered with large sink holes, ashy lands, burnt out trees, coloured lakes and bogs (of eternal stench!).

On the way to this murky wasteland of wonder we drove through the Hamilton of New Zealand – aptly named Hamilton. The town is filled with malls, sad little shops, and a feeling of woe. If anyone reading likes or lives in Hamilton, ON, I’m sorry, and regret nothing. The one shinning light is Hamilton we discovered was a beer bar named Good George. We have since discovered that George is like the Sam Adams of NZ. They used to be good, but are now everywhere (there does seem to be a George bar in every town we visit), but I’m digging their beer, so I’m happy!