Cathie Descends Into Hell for a Bottle of Doris Plum Gose

In the morning I set out for my first attraction of the day - Hell's Gate, a geothermal site full of boiling pools, beautiful trees, a hot waterfall, and a mud volcano. The weather was fantastic. I drove to the site, parked the car in the lot, and headed inside.

Here are the pools at the entrance to the site. It feels like another planet.

entrance

so here's what it's all about

look, this white guy came here once and named everything

see pic above and below

George seemed a bit senile by this time...

Next came a walk through some fantastic woodland.

Then I hit the other geothermal part of the site:

 

Then came the mud volcano:

Then I approached the hottest pool on the site, which reaches 250 degrees F.

Then came the merely "hot" lakes, the cooking pool, the map of Australia, and a walk through the woods:

because it is shaped like Australia

the silver fern - the national symbol

There was supposed to be a Maori carving demonstration but that never materialized, so I returned to my car, only to find that a foot long crack had appeared in the windshield while the car was parked.

To be continued...