Week 2 - Day 10 - Tsunami Warnings

There has been an earthquake in Samoa that reached 8.3 on the richtor scale. It is very sad that so many lives were lost there.

They have put a warning out for the east coast of New Zealand that a Tsunami is expected to hit at ten this morning.

We are currently located in Tuaranga which is directly on the east coast. So, we are packing for the day and and heading for the hills, to Rotorua. Will fill you in later...

... the tsunami that reached New Zealand was quite small. It certainly alarmed a lot of people. The people of Samoa are having difficulties and are expecting another earthquake and tsunami tonight.

On our drive into the Waimanu volcanic valley the scenery was lovely.

We spent the day at the hot springs outside of Rotorua. The gorge is beautiful. We walked along it on a long trail. There was quite a variety of hot springs and craters.

This is the river that once lead to the pink terraces I talked about yesterday. There were many bubbling springs with spectacular colours in the rock. The water was quite hot to touch...of course Alan and I had to try it.


The gorge walk took 2 1/2 hours long. The craters were amazing and did not have the sulphur smell that the Rotorua geothermal springs have.

When we reached the lake we saw nesting black swans and pairs of swans with their gosslings. This lake is called Lake Rotomahana which is a warm water lake.

Once we were done at the gorge, we went into Rotorua on a shopping expedition. Peter was looking for gifts to bring home.