Rotorua steam and mud

Took another road trip up to Rotorua to check out some of the geothermal parks around.  We didn't feel like walking a ton or paying a lot for entry fees to the official parks so we googled "free geo thermal" and were pretty happy with what we found.  In the middle of a Kuirau Park is a bunch of hot springs and mud pits.  They are simply fenced off and accepted as a normal part of life.  When a new pool sprouts up they just put rocks around it temporarily until they can fence it off properly.  The pools and steam vents do change. 

The park was pretty good sized and we had fun comparing each little pool to the others.  Our favorite though was the lake with a pathway spanning the steam.  You may not be able to read the story on the sign, but to sum it up a girl was taken by a monster and the gods were so angry they made the lake boil.  

This lake used to be cool enough to swim in.  Now trees are cooked skeletons and we get to watch the water bubble and boil as we walk past.  Naturally both Jeremy and I wanted to touch the water to see how hot it was.  Well that's just plain dumb...and Jeremy did anyway.  He said it wasn't as bad as he expected.  He must have chosen a cool spot.  However, when I dipped my fingers in I burned myself!  My fingers were raw from our caving trip and it wasn't pleasant.  

After our walk through the park we made our way to a Maori temple.  There were a lot of carvings on the property and we did our best to match the artistic talent that went into carving them.  

We had hoped to walk through a Christian church there on site and see the stained glass window of Christ in a ceremonial Maori robe, but it was closed for the day.  We saw the window from the outside however so that was pretty good.  

We also wandered through a cemetery there on the grounds for soldiers killed in WWI and WWII.   

Back on the road we stopped at Waiotapu Mud Pool.  Jeremy and I were cheering on the spots that had the best blurping noises.  We timed this photo pretty well to get the full explosion effect.  

After a long day on the road we decided to treat ourselves to something completely random, a trip to a mud pit and sulfur spa.  I've never painted myself with mud before and felt a little like a two-year-old.  Once the mud was nice and crusty we rinsed it off then hopped in a sulfer spa.  The mud and the water from the spa really do come directly from the property.  It was a little strange looking at the boiling, stinky pools next to us and thinking that we were willingly sitting in them.  Theoretically it is all very good for the skin, exfoliate and removing toxins from your body.  At least that's the idea.  Ultimately we did feel very smooth when we were done and our muscles felt ready for our upcoming race, but we sure were stinky!  Fast forward a week and our jackets still smell like sulfur (sorry lady sitting next to me on the plane).  It was a really neat experience though.

Jeremy gave it two thumbs up.