What a spectacular day! We started off by driving the short distance to the Te Puia thermal area of Rotorua. This is a large area of Maori homeland sitting around dense forests and containing numerous pools of volcanic mud, thermal streams, geysers including Pohutu, the largest geyser in New Zealand. It is also home to the Maori Arts and Crafts Institute where young Maoris are trained in carving and weaving using the traditional methods.

We walked miles around the trails viewing all the different springs and thermal wonders. It really is a surreal and strange landscape with hot steam arising from both large and small vents in the ground. Some are great deep holes, like erupting boils on the Earth's surface. No wonder people thought areas like this were the gates to hell and the underworld. The smell of sulphur only adds to the ambience.

We watched Pohutu erupt for some time. It erupts very, very regularly and the spouts of boiling water regularly reach 30m in the air. Very spectacular to see and I certainly have never seen anything like it. It started off quite small and I thought….hmmmm…….. and then wooosh, absolutely shooting skywards for quite some time. Amazing. Took absolutely loads of photos. All probably extremely similar but it was irresistible.

Spent about 2 hours walking around the reserve looking at all the different pools and vents. Some of them were set up as cooking pools. One was like a massive cauldron of boiling water that they could actually immerse food into. Others were pools of bubbling mud and with these the Maoris would build a platform of stones and then as the stones heated up, cook on the stones. Others still took the form of wood placed on very hot ground and then stones on top. As the wood caught fire and burned it would heat the stones and then you cook on the stones.

We had a look around the Maori village exhibits and the carving and weaving workshops and also the shop. I must say the shop had some lovely things in it. Not tacky at all. While we were there a tour party arrived from Aurora!!!!

We then drove south from Rotorua towards Lake Tarawera. On the way we stopped at the lookout point over Blue Lake and Green Lake. This was a beautiful drive through really thick pine forests with thousands of tree ferns growing amidst the pine. They must be very old as they were so tall. The two lakes are large and very close together. From the viewpoint it was interesting to see the marked difference in colours due to the water depth and bottom type. We continued on past the Buried Village which is a Maori Pompeii. In 1886 Mount Tarawera erupted and covered a 15,500 sq. km area in rock, lava and ash. The Maori village is preserved just as it was. We didn't go in as we were a bit short on time but continued on to Lake Tarawera which is very large and has the remains of Mount Tarawera looming over it. Absolutely beautiful place. There were only a couple of other people there and we stopped off at the only café on the lake, The Landings, and shared a bowl of seafood chowder. It was the best I've ever had, and I've had a lot. They were nice enough to put it into two bowls for us. Just delicious. Would love to eat more of their food one day.

Back in town, we dropped our stuff at the hotel and headed off to the Polynesian Spa which is literally 100 yards away on the lake side. Built on the site of two natural mineral springs, it is a very large facility with a number of different sections, for adults, for families and private pools. We opted for the adult pools which cost about £13 each of us. This section consisted of 7 mineral pools all at different temperatures from 37C to 42C. Hot. Some of them were alkaline mineral pools so good for the skin and others were minerals and radium (from the Priest Spring) which is good for rheumatism and aches and pains. Well, we had a good long soak in a variety of them. It was really quiet. Not many other people there at all which was even better. Sometimes we had a whole pool to ourselves for ages. After a while it began to pour with rain. Some of the pools were under canopies but it was lovely to sit out in the warm rain with half of your body immersed in the hot water but maybe from the chest up out and in the rain. I suppose we were in there for over two hours. After 5 it suddenly started to get busier with some groups of Japanese tourists arriving and other small groups. That was our signal to get out and showered and head back for some rest before dinner.

Walked into the town centre and found a bistro café called The Fat Dog that got good reviews on Tripadvisor and had dinner there. Bob had pork belly with scallops, black pudding and cauliflower puree. I had lamb shank on rosemary and garlic mash with veg. Mine was nice but Bob's was AMAZING!!! Nice glass of Pinot Noir to wash it down. Like winegums.

A really good day. Like Rotorua a lot despite the smell which is actually now invisible to us 99% of the time. Could easily spend a week or so here.