Finally, the rain has stopped! It was still raining this morning although it was nothing like the storms yesterday. Apparently 2 month's worth of rain fell in just 6 hours and the rain went on for over 24 hours. It caused major floods, power cuts and the roads we travelled down on Saturday were all closed so we were lucky!

We packed up and left the holiday park early to go to Wai-O-Tapu. This is a geothermal park just outside Rotorua. The park contains lots of thermal pools, lakes, craters, steam vents and mineral pools, a little like the ones we saw yesterday but on a much bigger scale. The rocks are amazing colours, green, orange, red, yellow, purple and black, because of the minerals deposited on the rocks. Our favourites were the champagne pool (see picture) and the Devil's Bath, a bright green/yellow pool. We also saw the Lady Knox geyser erupt to around 15m and huge mud pools bubbling away. It is fascinating how volcanic this whole area is. Everywhere you go you can see steam leaving the ground and the whole place smells like bad eggs! Amazingly, plants and birds live and grow around the pools and towns are built around them.

Next stop was Taupo, about an hour south of Rotorua. Taupo is still in the thermal area but lacks the sulphur smell, phew! We have a room in Base Backpackers, which is more like a hotel than anywhere else we've stayed. Our room has an ensuite with the best shower I've had in days, tv and a lake view. What more do you need? Only problem is that we're on the 3rd floor and there is no lift...

We headed back out to the Craters of the Moon, which is a 2km walk through more craters with thermal pools. These are newer than those at Wai-O-Tapu, and the landform is constantly changing. Plants grew around the craters and the earth was steaming everywhere.

Next stop was Huka Falls. This is where the Waikato River runs through a narrow channel, creating white water rapids, before emptying into a wide pool and creating whirl pools. Imagine a washing machine with the door suddenly opening! Enough water passes through the channel to fill 5 olympic swimming pools each minute. It really was beautiful!

Back at the backpackers we did some laundry (dull but essential) and then treated ourselves to a lovely meal by the lake.

Tomorrow we have a very early start (5am!) as we are going to walk to Tongariro Crossing, a 6-8 hour trek through the volcanic mountains, before driving to Napier. So, early night tonight!