Roaming Brood

Quick post about a few stops in the Rotorua area - NZ's geothermal playground. A geothermal pool with a pH of 2 Rotorua Rotorua is a pretty town with a lot to offer - it's tidy, relatively wealthy and steeped in fascinating geothermal activity.  The news isn't all good- it also stinks... like all the time... think overcooked hard-boiled eggs - not for the faint ofart (see what I did there?)  ;) Because Chelsea's stomach turns at the thought of a sulfur pool, we elected to keep our distance from Rotorua proper - only stopping in briefly for groceries.... I had wanted to checkout it's free geothermal park Kuirau park , but I was already on thin sulfurous ice as it was, so we skipped it. Wai-O-Tapu Geothermal Park We went to this park in 2005 and loved it - really active geothermal features that are photogenic and not too sulfurous for Chelsea (Cheryl doesn't love the smell either).  It didn't disappoint! I'll let our pictures do the tal

Sorry for the brief hiatus folks - limited wifi slowed me down!  We did the Tongariro crossing 15yrs ago and fell in love with it then - we knew our kids had to experience it too. Ummm... can anyone say AMAZING! For those unfamiliar, the Tongariro Crossing is a 20km hike/tramp that takes you into the caldera(s)  of Mt. Ngauruhoe (more famously known as Mt. Doom in Tolkein's Lord Of The Rings trilogy). The mountain lies above Lake Taupo - New Zealand's biggest lake - which makes for a fitting backdrop throughout the 2nd half of the hike. Turangi - not far from Tongariro National Park We holed-up in VRBO/HomeAway a little town called Turangi, close to Tongariro National Park.  Cheryl's wrote a post about Turangi - check it out ! The hike route This hike is, very debatably, the best day hike in the world - certainly the best we've ever done.   If you like the outdoors, you're fit, and you can do only one thing in NZ - hike the Tongariro Crossing.