Thursday 8 February: Tauranga - Day Trip: Rotorua and the Living Maori Village

Where most geothermal activity is in Rotorua is the site of a Maori village.  They call it a living village because people live there as the tourists flock all around.

It would seem more fitting to call it the living village because the place is alive with geothermal activity!

Just like in Timanfaya on Lanzarote, your shoes get hot and you an feel the heat when you touch the ground ... and there's always the smell of hydrogen sulphide and sulphur in the air ....

A rival for LlanfairPG in Wales!

Vapours rising everywhere

A 'normal' river into which lots of these hot water sources flow

A vapouring geyser in the back garden. When a new one suddenly appeared in the middle of the kitchen floor it was time to move out!

Public cooking facility - free fuel

Another outdoor stove

The water in this pool is at boiling point on the surface but much hotter below.  They've lowered various probes to find out how deep it is, but the probes have never been seen again!

The white residue everywhere is silica

Channels of hot water replenish their outdoor bathing facility

Communal baths

Water is channelled off to the baths below

The main geyser left today.  There used to be more, but local hotels tapped into the hot water supply and many disappeared

This one goes for 45 minutes and then has a 15-minute rest!

They call them guy-zers here.  They say a geyser (gezzer) is an old fellow!

Village Meeting House

The Catholic Church. Before the missionaries came, the Maori had no religion to speak of and there was competition between Anglicans and Roman Catholics for followers

A depiction of the Pink and White Terraces - another Eighth Wonder of the World, this one was lost in the eruption of Mount Tarawera in 1866

The Terraces have recently been located under ground and could be re-excavated.  To read more about them, click here and here. 

The Meeting House. Strangers are not allowed to enter without going through a welcoming ceremony lasting over an hour

This is in someone's garden!

Mudpool

Anglican Church. The mud pool is on the left.  As in many Maori villages, the Chief Elder here called everyone together to the meeting house and said that those on one side of the village were now Catholics and the others Anglicans

DIY with a hot spring in your garden

Another covered over source of energy!