Hell's Gate volcanic action

Trip Start Jan 11, 2009

Trip End Apr 12, 2009

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Where I stayed

Wylie Court Motor Lodge Rotorua

Flag of New Zealand Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand
Friday, February 6, 2009

We started the morning working on a fix for A2's camera. We read all the forums and went to a local camera shop but the cleaning, firmware update, and resets did not work. The exchange rate is such that replacing my current camera is actually about half the cost of what I paid for it a year and a half ago, so we are considering doing that in Wellington.

We went to the famous "Hell's Gate" thermal area to watch a bunch of bubbling pools of mud and hot sulfuric water. We had a blast trying to photograph a mud boil in action. Due to the delay in B2's instamatic it's really difficult to get a live action shot of a mud bubble bursting, but we did our best and after a couple hundred photos we got a few fun shots. We left HG after several hours and could smell lovely rotten eggs deep into the night as our clothes slowly shed the sulfur smell.

We spent the evening relaxing in our private hot tub, which was fed by hot spring water. Not too shabby!

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