There is a desolate valley near Rotorua, New Zealand that is a perfect representation of the elements earth, water, fire and air. The Whakarewarewa Thermal Valley is a geothermic world of bubbling pools, hissing vents and piping hot geysers where the scent of sulphur wafts through the air.
This part of the country sits on an active fault line, resulting in a lot of volcanic activity. Wherever water is heated under the earth, it will find a way to escape, often with spectacular results!
This is where you’ll find Pōhutu, the largest active geyser in the southern hemisphere. She erupts once or twice every hour, sometimes reaching the height of 100 feet (30 meters). Pōhutu means ‘constant splashing’ in Māori.
There are few places in the world where geothermal wonders of this intensity are as numerous and easy to see as in Rotorua. We found the entire area fascinating when we toured there a few years ago.Weekly Photo Challenge: Elemental
It’s interesting, isn’t it that it takes a ‘fault’ to provide such a dramatically perfect scene ….
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A true and wise observation on your part!
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Gorgeous photos! What a beautiful place.
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Thanks! It’s a place where you feel fairly insignificant, in the scheme of things!
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The perfect entry for this week’s challenge. Great pics!
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Thanks, Tom! I enjoyed your pictures too!
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Beautiful… and a little bit eerie, in a nice way 🙂
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I feel the same way!
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The sites you’ve photographed remind me of Yellowstone Park, in a way. So beautiful. So ethereal. And so elemental. Thanks for posting these.
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Hate to admit it, but we’ve never been to Yellowstone! It’s on our “to do” list, though! Thanks for stopping by!
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I really enjoy your photos ; they are always mesmerizing.
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Sweet compliment – thank you!
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Nice photos and take on the WPC 🙂 Every winter, we travel to down Rotorua to check geysers out 🙂
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Lucky you! Thanks for the comment!
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Beautiful and perfect for the challenge.
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Sorry, Imelda! I just noticed your sweet comment! Thank you so much.
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Wow, great photos! 💖🔝
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Thanks so much!
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Great photos for this challenge. We were visited Rotorua back in1990 when our kids were small and the biggest hit with them was the boiling mud.
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Thank you. Kids & mud – and irresistible partnership! 🙂
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