ROTORUA STINKS. ‘NUFF SAID? Geysers, mud pots and hot springs perfume Rotorua with Eau de Chemistry Lab and thousands of tourists pay handsomely for the experience. But if you’ve visited before like we have — twice for Connie — or have had your fill of rotten eggs, there’s respite just out of town.
Mud Pots
Splash
Mud Bubble
While the tour bus crowd queued up for the $35 Canopy Walk, we wandered off into the the improbable redwood forest. I have been whinging about the deforestation, increased population and seemingly unrestricted growth in New Zealand — a combination of nostalgia and curmudgeonliness for sure — but one thing the Kiwis have embraced are their trail systems. Tracks they call them and they are spectacular.
Looking up into the Redwoods
Connie on the Trail
John and his Camera
Walking under towering Redwoods (imported from California at the turn of the last century) is one of life’s joys. We hardly even realized that we didn’t see any new birds including our target, the tiny Rifleman. And a second trail led up, up, up to a platform with views of all of Rotorua’s thermal activity.
Source of the smell
