Hi Abbigail,

We've been on the road in the North Island of New Zealand. I've been lucky to visit a couple of my favourite geothermal spots on the way.

 

This is a steaming crater at Craters of the Moon geothermal park just outside Taupō. There are craters of various sizes all over a wide-open bowl-shaped field covered with small bushes. This is one of the larger ones; you can see geothermal steam hissing from the right edge of the crater. The whole place smells of sulfur: rotten eggs or worse!

  

We went out to dinner with Grandpa Francis, who turned 86 years old on 6 January. He's taking a deep breath to blow out the candle (worth 86 candles) on a chunk of chocolate mousse decorated with a bit of gold leaf. It was a very tasty mousse!

 

 We stopped at the geothermal mud pools at Wai-o-tapu, just outside Rotorua. You're looking at a large muddy pond that's bubbling with hot springs and boiling mud. The edge of the pond has a few small mud volcanoes that never seem to be active when we visit. The sound of bubbling and hissing, and the smell of sulfur, are very strong here. Love it!

 Grandpa Francis, Aunty Helen, and your dad say hello from the smelly boiling mud of Wai-o-tapu!

 Love, Dad