Mud, mud, glorious mud....

If there's one thing Rotorua does well, apparently, it's a spa day.  All the geothermal activity in the area means there is a plethora of hot pools and mud baths for you to visit.  After a bit of research, I decided to book in at Hell's Gate spa for a geothermal walk, mud bath, sulphurous spa and a massage.

I wasn't quite sure what a geothermal walk was going to be.  It turned out to be a marked path through the grounds of the spa, taking about 45 minutes to walk at a slow stroll, all the time feeling as if you are being boiled and steamed alive.  The track started with a bit of a stark warning - especially given the recent death of a young boy after he fell into a hot pool in one of Rotorua's spa facilities.  It wasn't this one though, because he had to climb over a fence to get to the pool and Hells Gate doesn't have fences!!






Have you ever looked at a coal or wood fire after it's been burning for hours. The flames have died down and everything that's left is white powdery residue.  That's basically what this landscape looked like, except that it was also dotted with pools of water or mud, bubbling and boiling away like a witch's cauldron.  Trust me - I was not tempted to stray from the path and dip my toe into any of these pools!



All the different hot pools in the park had names.  Most seem to have been named by George Bernard Shaw - I'm not sure what the connection is with him, but there's definitely one there somewhere.  Half way around the walk, we were taken through a short piece of woodland where we came across the Kakahi Falls - at approximately 40°c, these might just be the worlds first natural hot shower!  Apparently Maori men used to bathe here after battle and wash off the blood.  The sulphur is also good for cleansing wounds.



A little further on and we saw more geography in action - a minature volcano that spurts mud rather than lava.  Apparently this unique in that it is the only known mud formation higher than 1m tall (it currently stands at 2.4 metres and is still growing, it errupts every 4 - 6 weeks).  I'm not sure when it last errupted, but it didn't look ready enough to pop to make it worth hanging around just in case!






The problem with photographs, though, is that they can't convey the smell, the sound or the oppressive heat that you were subjected to on the walk.  So here's a small video that will at least give you an idea of the background sound that is constantly with you.

And the strangest thing of all when you turned to walk back to the building, was to realise that this entire park is set within what would otherwise be a perfectly innocuous piece of countryside with fields and fences that would not look out of place anywhere else in the country (or in the UK for that matter).

After the walk, I had a fabulous mud bath, sulphurous spa and massage. [Sorry, for some reason I failed to get any photos of me in a swim suit covered in mud.  Please try to control your disappointment.]   I also stretched my boundaries and had my first ever cup of tea.  Manuka tea, sweetened with honey.  You know, it wasn't that bad!

I am now back at my campsite listening to various children having some quite impressive tantrums and waiting for a phone call to let me know whether my trip to White Island will be going ahead tomorrow or not.  If it is, then I'd better get an early night as I will need to leave the campsite around 7am tomorrow morning!

[Post edit - call has arrived, White Island trip is on.  Night night, here's hoping it doesn't errupt tomorrow until after I'm back from the trip!!]