Welcome Flats Hot Springs

Four days of beach hiking had left us sunburned and sore. Naturally, a soak in some mountain hot pools was in order.  So the five of us (two over 6-feet) crammed into a Toyota RAV4 for the 8-hour drive from Nelson, down the western coast of New Zealand’s South Island, to Fox Glacier. Welcome Flats…

Hot Water Beach, Lake Tarawera 

Every time we told a Kiwi we were headed to Rotorua, the response was unanimously, “yea, that’s a bit smelly, isn’t it.” So I rolled my car window down as we approached this little town built around the sulfur pools, just to confirm. It was smelly alright. After spending a day exploring the Geothermal Wonderland…