It was wonderful to wake up to the sound of waves breaking on the shore this morning. We set up our picnic table and sat out overlooking the beach for breakfast. Today we drove to Rotorua, only about one hour south of Papamoa Beach. Rotorua is a region famous for it's geothermal activity with numerous hot springs, geysers, mud pools and steaming craters.

I decided we'd start off with a visit to Waimangu Valley - a short scenic drive south of the city centre. We walked along a marked track through the valley and went up the Mt Haszard hiking trail, which led us to various exciting thermal attractions. Highlights of the visit included 'Inferno Crater', 'Frying Pan Lake' and 'Marble Terrace'. Most of the craters there now were formed in violent volcanic eruptions in 1886 and are now filled with hot water bubbling up from below. It was crazy to see boiling water and steam shooting out of the ground! Inferno Crater was particularly impressive - the lake inside it is a beautiful pale light blue (see pictures below) and the water temperature reaches up to 80°C! 'Frying Pan Lake' covers 38 000 square metres making it the largest hot spring in the world.

Most of the ground either side of the walkways is warm and the hot springs are surrounded by colourful mineral deposits. I did feel slightly on edge near the craters though, especially considering the fact that some tourists had been killed here when a geyser suddenly erupted about 100 years ago!

We then moved on to Rainbow Mountain Scenic Reserve and climbed to the summit for panoramic views of the Wai-O-Tapu thermal area, several lakes, and Mount Tarawera - the mountain which was split in two by a violent eruption to form Waimangu Valley. It's called Rainbow Mountain because it has bare brown, orange and red steaming slopes...

We had a good run back down again until Phil took a tumble, badly grazing his leg. I think he was more concerned about the Mac and iPad in his rucksack than his own wellbeing mind!

We're staying at Rotorua Top 10 campsite tonight - it's much nicer and quieter than Papamoa Beach with it's own mineral pools and pristine kitchens and showers. We went for a walk around the town and Rotorua Lake in the evening but the smell of sulphur from the thermal activity got a bit too much - I don't know how anyone lives around here!