After parting ways with Molly, Jordy and Roz, who all had to return to the States, Amanda and I headed east, cutting down from Tauranga to Gisborne, Napier, Hawkes Bay area up to Taupo, where we did Tongariro Crossing (which merits its own post, forthcoming), then took Amanda to her school orientation in Rotorua. We were not more than one minute into town before the smell of rotten eggs was upon us. Some might smell the most wretched sulphurous smell on earth and think, "Maybe we should find somewhere else to sleep for the night." The founders of Rotorua did not feel that way. Indeed, they founded a good-sized city on the spot. The whole town faintly reeks, even more so when you walk around the lake, the edge of which is lined with belching mud holes. There were some very cool black swans (introduced from Australia) however. Even though I was in Rotorua for several days, I couldn't quite get used to the geothermal activity everywhere. The Government Gardens downtown, complete with lawn bowling, petanque and croquet areas, couldn't be more formal. Yet they are punctuated by holes of nasty, stinking mud and 212 degree water. The local rugby field had to be condemned when things got too hot and I spotted some sulphurous steam coming up from the storm drain on a residential street. Go figure.
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