We arrived in Rotorua with a coupon to Hell's Gate burning holes in our pockets. (It was buy one get one, so entrance for the two of us was $35--a good thing since we might have passed it up at a higher price.) I've only ever visited one other entrance to Hell (what's up Rodin!) and never a geothermal park, so for me this was a fresh experience. It was a buffet of boiling, churning, steaming, spitting, gurgling sounds garnished with the ambient smell of sulphur. Josh and I had a difference of opinion on which kind of egg the air smelled most like; he says rotten, I say deviled! This is hell though, so I think it's pretty clear who really hit the mark here. It's deceptively peaceful, full of quiet bubbling and floating mist; you could almost forget the latent power literally raging right beneath your feet. Photos didn't feel like an adequate way to illustrate the experience, so I took a lot of little videos. Enjoy a few seconds of geothermal meditation. Ooh! Ahh! |
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I know.
If, like me, you've spent time dwelling on the reality that entails, you'll need some distraction. So let's just take it back to the profound awesomeness of nature. Remember there's a whole planet churning underneath your feet. And if that doesn't work, this should help.