Tauranga, New Zealand

we had an early tour this morning. We took an hour bus ride to the town of Rororua. We went to a place with hot springs, hot bubbling mud and geysers. First we went through the kiwi sanctuary. They had a female and male in separate habitats. The female was hiding but the male was out trying to get food. No pictures allowed si I don’t have a kiwi shot. From there we walked along a path to a bubbling mud pot. There was steam rising off the mud. Then we went to the geysers. They were just starting to erupt. The first angle we looked at them from, all we saw was the steam. Then we walked up a little rise and actually saw the water coming up. The breeze was blowing steam away from us so we could see it better. It was pretty cool, but Yellowstone Park has more geothermal pools. From there we went by a little tram back to the main area where we were taken through a school on the property where students learn Māori trades. They had a young man carving in an abalone shell. Then we saw the wood shop where they were working on tikis and carving plaques. There was also a young woman weaving with the flax. It was nice to see that young people can have a chance to keep the native crafts alive. Then we went to a huge cafeteria and had a delicious lunch. A quick trip through the gift shop where I bought some of the mud moisturizer. Guaranteed to make me look years younger! I also bought a jar of Manuka Honey to bring home. Supposed to also be very healing. Another hour’s ride on the bus with a stop at Rotorua lake where it’s half sulfuric and half fresh water. I got s good shot of 3 cormorants sitting in a tree and a photo of the lake with 2 colors water.
‘Back to the ship for a rest. Then Bunny went to jacuzzi and I went to a port talk on Wellington, where we’ll be in 2 days. We went to a lecture on the history of the Māori, then to dinner. As we were leaving the area, the people sitting next to us at dinner pointed out an island we were passing. It’s called White Island. It’s privately owned, and is a live volcano. These guys ran a business taking people on cruises out to the island-until one day it erupted with people on the island. Several people were killed. I’m sure the guys who owned it are out of business. I remember seeing it on the news a couple years ago. As you can see from the top photo, there is smoke coming from the crater. We gave it a wide berth as we were going by!

Photos: The Māori dancer is doing the Haka, a dance used by warriors to scare their enemies. They bug their eyes out, stick out their tongues and he has a spear raised in his hand.