Hell's Gate

POSTED BY IZZY

Where do I begin?! The two main places we went to today were Hobbiton and Hell's Gate. We went to Hobbiton first and that was really cool. Hobbiton is the place where, in Lord Of The Rings,  the shire was filmed. We got to see all the hobbit holes and the party tree and even the green dragon pub! Maddie really liked the tour guide, Dan the man who was pretty cool. Because she was a volunteer, she got to keep a fake leaf used in the actual movie/s!!

Next we went to Hell's Gate which is a place where you go to have a mud bath! Also, around Rotorua (the place we are staying) there are lots of areas of volcanic activity. Hell's Gate is Rotorua's most active geothermal reserve. It was really interesting to see all the mud bubbling up at 100 degrees c when it was only about 20 outside. It was formed 10,000 years ago as a series of geothermal eruptions. Then an old leaked drained to form the two lakes Rotoiti (which I know nothing about) and Rotorua. The removal of the water caused faulting of the rock which let the steams, gases and hot fluids escape.

I've got two favourites and one of them was called devils cauldron. It was basically a small pit that had been created by all the mud bubbling over to create steep slopes around it, with lots of hot, sticky mud in it. I think the temperature was something like 120 degrees c. It said on the leaflet we got that there were three types of mud in there: black, white and grey. Apparently, the black mud has been used in the treatment of arthritis and rheumatism.

Another really good thing there was a waterfall called Kakahi Falls which is the largest natural hot waterfall in the Southern Hemisphere! I remember the temperature was 40 degrees c which is the temperature of a nice hot shower. The falls were very important because the Maori warriors used to bathe themselves to get rid of the blood from battle. The sulphur in the water was very good as in it acted as a salve to the wounds they received from the enemies.

When we did the walk we had to cover our heads in towels because of the fumes of sulphur that was coming from the mud! It really stunk.

After we had walked all around the bubbling mud furnaces, we got undressed and then into our swimming costumes and into the mud bath!

I just thought it was basically dirty water but then the staff said that you reach into a metal pot and pull out loads of sloppy mud, we covered it all over our bodies and on our faces but not near our eyes coz it really hurts. 

The sulphur in the mud is supposed to cure all wounds and when I got out, I noticed that the cut I had on my leg had nearly disappeared! After that we showered off and got in a pool full of diluted sulphur and water which was boiling. In the pool, Maddie noticed that my ear ring was completely tarnished like it had gone all rusty! But I'm sure we can fix that.

Pretty cool day.