Fluo rocks and mud pools

After the post on Christchurch and Tongariro, you might have started to suspect that the earth in New Zealand isn't particularly sleepy. In fact, there are about 15'000 earth quakes per year (most of them are hardly felt but some can be very strong and damaging), there are also 50 volcanoes and many moving glaciers. Another example is the town of Rotorua, not far from Auckland. It's one of the top destinations in NZ, thanks to its incredibly active surface. There are geysers, mud pools, hot pools, hot rocks, steam coming from out of nowhere and all that. I guess they all have their official or scientific names but let's just say that there is plenty of fascinating stuff coming out of the earth in Rotorua. It is also the center of Maori culture and if you want to visit the fascinating stuff, you need a Maori guide to accompany you which is useful, as some of these phenomena are quite dangerous, and interesting at the same time because they'll tell you more about their life and culture. One thing you'll have to keep in mind when you want to visit Rotorua is that it smells!! Because of the sulphur, you won't be able to escape the overpowering rotten egg smell that is just everywhere, even inside hotels, restaurants, the tourist information office...We camped on the car park of a hostel when we visited and even when we went inside to cook or take a shower, the sulphur odor wouldn't leave us alone! Our guide took this quite positively though: as long as it smells in Rotorua, she is sure to have a job:-)