NZ Day 7 - Craters Of The Moon

New Zealand is known as the Shaky Islands because they are constantly quaking.

The islands are made primarily of limestone, which absorbs quite a bit of the vibration, so the quakes aren't always noticeable.  In fact, there were all sorts of earthquakes while we were there!

We didn't notice any at all.

Screenshot from this morning:

One of the cool results from this is a lot of geothermic activity with hot springs!

We went to the Craters Of The Moon site, where hot steam is bubbling and seeping from the ground.

I wore this:

jeans: Style & Co from Macy's
sweater, socks, shoes: Target
denim jacket: Dress Barn

Our little vineyard hotel had beautiful grounds.

They even had a little church on the property:

And an ironing board ALIEN!!!

Fall was definitely arriving:

And then we were there!

There were lots of warnings about staying on the path and keeping arms and legs away from the hot steam.

At first it might seem as if it's a cold day and the ground is steaming.

As we got closer, though, we could see that the steam was billowing out of holes (big and small) in the ground.

I was really cold this morning before it warmed up.

The warm steam felt good

(even if it smelled funky).

This hole had little wisps of steam coming out.

It was all so interesting that we walked around taking photos for a long time.

The signs taught us that there is a fern that grows around the holes that the native peoples used for food.

The surrounding plants were greener than what was elsewhere in the area

(possibly because it was warmer?)

The mountains (this one in particular)

was looming in the backround.

This hole was a monster mud hole:

Steam was sneaking up from under the bridge!

We found some fungi that like the heat, too.

Don't know if they're edible!

"Danger: Dangerous ground.

The crater edge is unstable and likely to slip at any time".

Comforting!

From the top of the hill (steep tiring climb, but short in duration),

we could see Lake Taupo.

After this excursion, we decided to see downtown Taupo.

It was autumn there, too!

Guess what Greg got for lunch?

A mince pie!

I don't really wanna advertise for them, but I like how they have culturally appropriate items on the menu in different countries.

We sat very close to the lake short and were able to see some parasailers.

And the lake itself is a beautiful color.

If we had needed it, we could have used the SUPERLOO!

Along the lakeshore there was another cool Maori gate.

And then on the news, we heard that there had been a terrible fire in Gilbert, about five miles from where we live in Chandler, Arizona!  We were happy to hear from our friends that everyone was okay.

Thus ends another wonderful day in New Zealand!