An easy start to the day as the ship docked at Tauranga at around 11am. We left the ship half an hour later and were taken along the marine parade, there was a long beach here and we could also see the surfers riding the waves it was an hours drive then to our destination at Rotorua. Along the way we passed through the country’s main kiwi fruit producing region and the slowly climbed up through a large expanse of forest before gaining our first sight of Rotorua lake. our first stop was to visit Hell’s Gate. The lake is the centre of a collapsed volcano which is still active. The area is part of a supervolcano, with lava about 4km beneath the surface. The first thing that struck us when we got off the bus was the strong smell of sulphur. We were taken on a walk round Hell’s Gate and shown mud pools , fumeroles (columns of hot steam coming out of the ground. All around were deposits of sulphur and bubbles of gasses emerging from pools (hydrogen sulphide, carbon monoxide, methane etc). The different gasses form different types of bubble. It was a very dramatic landscape and well deserving of its name. We had time for a quick lunch. There is the opportunity at Hell’s Gate to bathe in hot mud and relax in the thermal pools, but we had an alternative planned for us. A short drive took us to the lake where we had another Jet Boat ride with lots of spins and fast turns. We rode out to the island in the centre of the lake where we saw some black terns – these were all females, the male birds were all congregated at the side of the lake. Once a year, for about two weeks the males go over to the island to mate with the females. Any male attempting to go over to the island outside this time is liable to be attacked by the females. The island is a nature reserve and home to a colony of Kiwi birds. The ground temperature on the island is several degrees higher than on the mainland because of geothermal activity beneath the surface. One end of the lake is supplied by streams of cold fresh water, the other by warm sulphurous water emerging from underground and we could smell the sulphur and see it lining the sides of the lake and in areas of the water. Back to the boat in time for our evening meal and then on to see another show. Tonight was “A hot summer night’s dream’ featuring lots of acrobatics and singing and dancing. A very colourful and exciting production.
