Hell's Gate

Today we went to another thermal area, but one that is radically different from yesterday's. "Hell's Gate" was named by George Bernard Shaw, who supposedly said:

Hell's Gate, I think, is the most damnable I have ever visited, and I'd willingly have paid ten pounds not to have seen it.

It's real name is Tikitere, a contraction of "Taku tiki i tere nei" -My youngest daughter has floated away - based on a story of a chief's daughter who jumped into one of the boiling hot pools.

Unlike yesterday, which felt like a walk in the woods with weird water features, today was liking walking on the moon. The area is filled with boiling mud pools, sulpher pools, boiling water pools and so on. There is even a large hot water waterfall ("only" the temperature of a hot shower).

After the walk, we spent some time at the spa there. We all took a mud bath (Alexander loved that!) then hung out in some sulpher pools. Ilona and Karin then got massages while Alexander and Mike did some more wandering around.

Alexander's favorite part: "Sticking my head through the pictures".

HellsGate