Phileas and Fogg's journey to the centre of the earth !

 Hi all,.
With no consideration for their personal safety, Phileas and Fogg have ventured along the Thermal Highway into the Volcanic Valley to bring you these amazing images of the earth on fire !!!! The rapids here begin our amazing journey and hence on into the sulphorous landscape known locally as 'Craters of the Moon '

In fact we are in Taupo and later in Rotorua which lie in a very volatile and facinating area of central New Zealand ( North Island ) It is very interesting indeed and I will leave Phileas to explain in greater detail, if she wishes.
Incidently, the bird is a Tui along with the Pukeko and Kakapo one of NZ' s iconic birds. It even has a beer named after it.

Now that we have our new gadget we have uploaded photos from both our cameras, however, you will notice a better quality in Fogg's!! The river shown is the Waikato, longest in NZ. Here at the Huka Falls it provides a brilliant boiling experience for the jet boats. The Craters of the Moon is a strange area of thermal activity released following the building of a power station further down the river. Imagine a large open area of scrubby bushes in which quite randomly appear spouts of steam and in some places bubbling mud. The whole area has an end of the world feel about it. Not as spectacular as Rotorua but from my point of view interesting to see how the plants have adapted to deal with the very hot conditions. We climbed up above the area to get a bird's eye and I spotted the tui. Fgg fortunately had the patience to wait to catch this wondeful photo.

 It was very foggy when we set off for Rotorua but cleared to give us a wonderfully hot day in the thermal centre of NZ. All along the road we could see steam spouting out of the ground, close to houses, petrol stations etc - I suppose it's just a fact of life here. Our main focus in Rotorua was the Whakarewarewa Thermal Village. Here live local Maori people who have welcomed visitors for over 100 years. Their female guides are held in high esteem and ours was excellent, giving us a very interesting tour of the village explaining how food is cooked in the hangi, how the water is used for communal bathing and the role of the Marae. We watched a very moving cultural display which involved the Haka as well as some beautiful singing and dancing. This photo shows the Prince of Wales Feather's and Puhutu geysers which were fairly quiet on our visit but none the less pretty impressive.

 Not sure that Fogg is very impressed with the idea!!

We found all this very interesting but on a scale of 1-10 find Taupo a more accessible town. Very beautifully laid out around the lake with awesome views to Mt Ruapehu. We leave here today to head for the Bay of Plenty and Opotiki. Before I sign off must mention Chilli dipping sauce. As we are on the road we carry limited stocks for cooking and we are never sure what kitchen equipment we will have in our baches. So I am here to sing the praises of the aforementioned sauce with which I have cooked salmon, tarihiki (fish) and chicken. All were delicious!!!

All from me now

Best wishes to all our readers

Phileas and Fogg