Rotorua: The Stinky Fart City was originally a sanctuary of healing, a steaming purgatory
"Stinky Fart City" is the nickname given to Rotorua by New Zealanders. The city's first impression of outsiders is the smell, the smell of hydrogen sulfide all over the city, can not hide, whether in scenic spots or hotels, streets, even make people dizzy when it is thick. Fortunately, people's noses have adaptive function, smell for a long time, if not particularly heavy, it will no longer stimulate the brain.
I don't know how much hydrogen sulfide will be harmful to the human body, presumably Rotorua did not reach the warning line. New Zealanders are not afraid of the smell, but Rotorua is also a historic health mecca in the country, with sulphur hot spring baths and hot mud baths popular. Since the 19th century, tourists from near and far have come here to bathe and recuperate, and this custom continues to this day. Rotorua is now the city with the most tourists on New Zealand's North Island, and in addition to foreign tourists, New Zealand natives also like to go to Rotorua for recuperation.
Rotorua is also an important settlement for New Zealand Maori people, with a large number of Maori cultural villages in and around the city. The New Zealand government has a special preferential treatment policy for Maori to compensate for the harm caused to them in the early colonial period, and Maori villages in large cities are more modern and commercial, and many rely on tourism for their livelihoods.
Rotorua is the new Zealand tourism city in the mode of operation is the closest to China, the scenic spot by the government to private companies to charge, the company in the scenic area to build lanes, set up fixed fixed time bus, large and small tour groups in and out, busy and lively. We went to three paid attractions in rotorua for a day and a half: the geothermal areas of Waimangu, Wai-O-Tapo and the Maori cultural village te Puia, the latter two of which are popular spots for tour groups, with Waimangu being slightly less visited. All three places are in the southeast of the city, and there are tours that can concentrate them in half a day. We found a private company to solve the traffic problem, had more time, and later found that there were cheaper traffic solutions in the information center.
Te Puia, on the outskirts of the city, has buses, much like the Chinese Folk Culture Village, where you can learn about the maori cultural traditions and watch less than half an hour of song and dance, including the maori war dance that tourists like to stare at. There is also a school for jade carving and wood carving in the village, preserving the Maori artistic heritage, but the crafts here are expensive. The village has a kiwi in captivity, a wingless New Zealand national bird that looks chubby and actually runs fast and agile.
Te Puia was also chosen because it is also a geothermal activity area, and the gap fountain Pohutu is very active, Lonely Planet says that this fountain erupts 10 to 20 times a day, but when we arrived, the gap fountain was always spraying, and the pause was only a few minutes or even a few seconds. In addition, there are hot mud pools that are constantly tumbling here. I am curious as to why Māori chose to build villages in such a geological environment. There are geothermal resources here, but can those fountain water be used? Some houses are built next to hot mud pools, which is too dangerous for children, right?
Two geothermal scenic spots are the characteristics of Rotorua, a natural wonder that is not easy to see in the country. Tengchong, Yunnan has a very active volcanic geothermal landscape, but the colors are far less abundant than Rotorua. Geothermal landscapes are a bit scary to say. The ground was full of holes, large and small, deep holes, and the darkness did not know how deep it led to the ground, and the rocks on the ground were torn apart and mottled by the corrosion of the flowing water. Hot steam and hot springs gushed out from the caverns, some fountains were several meters high, and the smell of rotten eggs came to the face, and it really felt like being in purgatory or even hell. However, due to the large amount of minerals in the surface water here, the geological structure is complex and changeable, so that runoff, lakes show an unusually rich color, some colors are very rare in ordinary nature, such as grass green, pink green, orange, light blue, milky white. So many colors intertwined together, have to admire the magic of nature's palette.
Waimangu is the youngest geothermal region in the world, having been leveled by the 1886 Taravera eruption, destroying the pink and white silt terraces that New Zealanders are proud of as the "Eighth Wonder of the World", killing hundreds of indigenous people in three Maori villages.
The ecosystems and surface morphologies we see now have been re-established in just over 100 years, making them an excellent object of study for volcano and environmental scholars. There is the world's largest hot spring and an exquisite geothermal terrace. There is also a dark blue lake, and on the opposite side of the lake there is a less common diagonal crater on the mountainside, which is very striking, and the tour guide said that it was the culprit who destroyed the pink and white silica terraces.
Wai-O-Tapo has the largest hot mud pool in New Zealand. Every day at 10:15 Lady Knox Geyser gap spring punctual eruption is also a big selling point here, and later found that this is actually a "performance", not pure natural, tourists gathered early in front of the fountain stand seats, the tour guide explained the knowledge of volcanic geothermal, 10:15 a.m., the tour guide sprinkled a certain substance in the fountain mouth, inducing the fountain to erupt, up to more than ten meters.
The champagne pool is the "cover view" of Wai-O-Tapo, which is a very beautiful red-edged green pool. The red (closer to orange) part is the bottom color of the shallower edge part of the pool, which is formed by travertine deposition in the pool, and the green part is the central part of the pool, where the water is deeper and the bottom of the pool is not visible. The champagne pool is a hot spring, always steaming, the water temperature is 73-75 ° C all year round, the hot spring at the bottom of the pool is as high as 260 ° C, I don't know if anyone can dive in this pool.
Wai-O-Tapo has many holes, and they are very deep, some of which are yellowish, probably sulfur, and some of which are dark brown near black, perhaps asphalt.
Auckland: Cities, how can we make life better?
Many people say that New Zealand is a big rural area, so Auckland may be the only city in this big rural area.
Compared with Chinese cities, Auckland's urban appearance is closer to nature and more livable, and large areas of green space dwarf our "National Garden City"; Public stadiums are very rich; Except for the most prosperous commercial area in the city center, most areas do not have high-rise buildings, and there is no sense of oppression in big cities; Auckland faces the sea on both sides, and while its waters may not be as clear as the rest of New Zealand, it is still very blue; There are no natural beaches here, and artificial beaches have been built for the citizens in a bay. Auckland is famous as the "Capital of Sail", with the world's largest number of sailboats per capita, and in Auckland's harbor, you can see the spectacular scene of masts.
But Auckland has a population of only 1.46 million, and its urban layout cannot be used by us. Roads in Auckland are the widest in all of New Zealand, but only Auckland in New Zealand has a serious traffic jam. Immigrants from all over the world and the wandering inhabitants of the island nation of Oceania (many of which have long settled in New Zealand) are mostly concentrated in Auckland, giving the city a very rich cultural resource, but also bringing about various unexpected conflicts.
As New Zealand's only big city, Auckland also has plenty of places to walk around.
The Auckland Museum is a large-scale comprehensive museum, in addition to the richer Maori culture, there are also displays of natural elements such as earthquake volcanoes; The University of Auckland is the first university in New Zealand, and most of the universities in Western countries do not have walls, which is very suitable for strolling; The Sky Tower is 328 meters high, and although it is not among the highest in the world, it is the tallest building in the southern hemisphere; One Tree Hill Park is a large green space and commanding height in the city, which can overlook the whole city in 360 degrees, and the name "Single Tree" derives from the story of the struggle between Maori and colonists; We also went to Riptide Island, the island where Gu Cheng and Xie Ye lived, and did not go to the house, only to see a large area of vineyards on the island.
End with a set of photos of Auckland's landscape as a walk through New Zealand.
The guesthouse by the dock, this is quite upscale, can receive state guests
Auckland's coastline
A small island
Vineyards on Riptide Island
The coastline of Riptide Island
The Old Port of Auckland Building
Forgot
Corner of the University of Auckland
Centennial bowling club
church
Old wooden church
Inside the church
19th century old mansion, available for visiting
Ancient house
Ancient house
Monument to the founder of Auckland
One-Tree Mountain Park
Sail Shadow
One-Tree Hill Park overlooks Auckland
Overlooking
Overlooking
Overlooking
Sheep in the park
Old home
Harbor and Sky Tower
Artificial beaches
Auckland Museum
Maori sea vessels
Maori houses
The Auckland Museum also showcases Chinese musical instruments