wanderlust: stinky like sulfur!

What to do, what to do! We were thinking of a few different hikes for this weekend, but due to multiple reasons (weather looked a bit iffy, no heat in the huts and not all of us had good sleeping bags, and Josh wore out Moni and Ian taking them on the Pouakai Range during the week) we decided to go off to Rotorua, land of the stinky geothermal activity. I found a cool tour of the White Island, which is a small volcanic island off the east coast near Whakatane. So we drove to Whakatane on Friday night, only to find out that the weather wasn't looking so hot. So we woke up on Saturday and they told us that there were gale force winds and no boat rides for us. Sad. Here's the Whakatane harbor...

So we drove back to Rotorua and first had to stop at the Warehouse (after reminding everyone to bring suits, what do I forget? Yes, my suit...and where do you find togs in the middle of winter?? You don't. But I did find some bottoms for $2, and paired it with a tank top...nice!)
Then we went to the Wai-O-Tapu (sacred waters) geothermal wonderland! Oh, yeah. Someone (IAN!!) gave Moni too much caffeine and she went crazy. But first she wanted to be like Josh.

Hi cuties! Don't step into that crazy hot water!

These are the Alum cliffs. Pretty.

Mmmmm....Smell that sulfur!

Here's the world famous champagne pool. So steamy!

The colors of the champagne pool were awesome...

And another crazy colored pool, which I think was called Devil's Cave. The devil had lots of things named after him in the park, like the devil's ink pots, devil's home, etc.

OH! The mud! I LOVE THE BOILING MUD POOL! I don't know why i love it so much. It's like waves and fire, I just can't get enough.

More 'shrooms!

Stopped for a beer at a surf-y themed restaurant. I want a surfboard table.

Ahh, the fun you can have in a grocery cart. One minute 'Are you ready to go off the ledge?' the next second KERPLUNK! Jarring, really. Or so Josh says.