Rotorua is the thermal centre of New Zealand.  The city smells of sulphur, and there are many places where steam steadily pours out of the ground and hot pools bubble continuously.

Below is a photo we took while driving through the city.  The steam you see is typical of many parts of the area.

In the morning, we drove to a large thermal park south of the city so we could see many of the unique features of this area.

Shown below is the Lady Knox geyser.  I also shot about a minute of HD video of the geyser eruption, however, due to the file size (over 300 MB), I didn’t try to post the videos to the blog yet.

Below are some other photos taken inside the park.

Did they really need this sign?  Does that mean the rest of the places in this park are fit for walking right through?

The photo below does not adequately show the true colour of the blue lake in the distance.  It was a bright turquoise blue.

Another sign pointing out the obvious.  When I see steam pouring out of the earth, I can assume the ground might be a little unstable.

Again, the colour balance in the photo does not do justice to the image.  This pool, named the Devil’s Bath, was a bright, neon green colour.

This park was a very unique place, and the geothermal activity made it seem like we were on another planet.  It took about 3 hours to see the geyser and then explore the park.  The smell can be overwhelming at times, but if you’re ever in New Zealand, I recommend a visit to the Wai-o-Tapu Thermal park.

Once finished at the thermal park, we had to jump in the rental car and head straight for the Rotorua regional airport to catch our flight to the South Island.

It was a small but very nice airport, with a pretty view of the lake behind it.  No large crowds.  The airport didn’t even have an ATM, so I had to wait until landing in Christchurch to get some more cash.  Easy check-in for the flights.  Not even any airport security screening to deal with.  Just drop off the rental car, check the bags, and get on the plane.  They didn’t even ask for identification when we checked-in or when we boarded the airplane.

Below is our plane, an ATR-72, as we walked out to board it.

Our flight would take us to Christchurch, the largest city on the South Island of New Zealand, where we would connect with another flight to finish the trip to Dunedin.  Once in Dunedin, our plan is to pick up another rental car and spend the rest of out time in New Zealand working our way around the South Island.

While I found Air New Zealand’s international service to be quite excellent, the same can’t be said for their local service.  While the flights were on time and inexpensive, the airplanes were rather old, all seats were locked in the upright position, and it was obvious that the interior of the planes had not been cleaned in a very long time.  Fortunately, we were not in the aircraft for very long.

Our motel in Dunedin is excellent.  Right in the centre of town, the place is very modern and well-equipped.  The in-room laundry facilities in the kitchenette are a most welcome feature on a long trip, and the whirlpool bath is nice after a cramped airplane ride.

Tomorrow, we begin the part of the trip that I have been looking forward to the most… the South Island!