On the way to Roto (as no one calls it?) we stop off at Taupo's Huka Falls, an amazing, roaring waterfull where 200,000 litres of water pass over it every minute. It's a gorgeous sunny day, but even without that I still would have stood there, in awe, for at least five minutes, watching the water pour over the low falls and pound, frothing into the river below.
Before entering Rotorua proper the bus stops a Wai-o-Tapu Thermal Wonderland - a name which belies the awful smell of the place. Sulphur... mmmm.... The smell is less strong in the actual town, but wandering around the 'Wonderland', with the bubbling, boiling dark mud pools, steaming vents and brightly-stained pools (from the dissolved chemicals in the steam), often it's hard to breathe without gagging! It's pretty spectacular though, particularly the champagne pool, which is a large, frothing lime-green pool, stained with a thick band of fluorescent orange around the edges.
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