The North Island

After leaving Tongariro, we headed north toward Rotorua, with lots of geothermal activity (49kb)

This is the Craters of the Moon, just south of Rotorua (47kb)

Obviously, you had to be careful where you walked (39kb)

Many of these craters had boiling mud at the bottom, and of course, it smelled like sulfur (31kb)

This is at the nearby Thermal Wonderland in Wai-O-Tapu (37kb)

Spectacular formations and colors (58kb)

These are the Primrose Terraces, formed when the water carrying limestone silica evaporated (70kb)

Joe is standing near alum cliffs (81kb)

All the various minerals have different colors (59kb)

These are sulfur caves (80kb)

The terraces are the largest in the southern hemisphere (75kb)

Birds nest in the walls of this crater, using its heat to incubate their eggs (68kb)

Our motel in Rotorua, a town filled with escaping steam - steam erupts from people

Sheep at the Agrodome in Rotorura (45kb)

These dogs are standing on representatives from each of the 17 breeds of sheep in NZ (49kb)

Kiwis nearly ready to be harvested (103kb)

Joe and Sara tried out the Swoop - here they are, at the top (19kb)

From here, they pull a release and drop nearly straight down . . . (14kb)

. . . flying through the air (11kb)

They

This is the site of what used to be a 2 story hotel in the buried village, buried by an 1886 eruption (109kb)

The town is slowly being excavated, like Pompeii (119kb)

Studies in water and light, part 1 (75kb)

Studies in water and light, part 2 (70kb)

Studies in water and light, part 3 (102kb)

The waterfall at the buried village (98kb)

Then it was on to Hobbiton! (51kb)

hobbit69.jpg (27kb)