New Zealand

View over Tairua estuary with the extinct volcano of Mount Paku to the left and Pauanui on the opposite side of the river- see inset photos! Blick über die Mündung des Tairua River mit dem erloschenen Vulkan Mount Paku links und Pauanui auf der gegenüberliegenden Flussseite (siehe PiPs). Panorama stitched from 18 verticals EXIF: 1/160, f/8.0, 41.0 mm, ISO 100, Canon EOS 40D, Tamron 17-50mm/ 2,8 Link to large size: www.ipernity.com/doc/523247/44980910/sizes/o

Coromandel east coast- looking over the estuary at Tairua towards Pauanui

Trike at a Paeroa filling station

In an old kiwi fruit sorting shed- the once translucent walls are covered by dirt and lichen.

Pohutu is the largest geyser in the Southern hemisphere. It's on a sinter plateau (geyser flat) in Whakarewarewa thermal valley and erupts regularly (at least once an hour) to a height of appr. 30m. The small geyser to the left is called Prince of Wales Feathers and usually precedes Pohutu. www.tepuia.com/new-zealand/geothermal-valley en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whakarewarewa

Motutara Island is a tiny island at the NW end of Sulphur Bay, Lake Rotorua. It is a wildlife refuge with plenty of nesting birds (here just cormorants and gulls). Lake Rotorua was formed ca. 220.000 years ago, when following an ignimbrite eruption, the collapsed caldera filled with water. Sulphur Bay

View over the upper part of Waimangu Volcanic Valley with Mount Tarawera in the background. Steam can be seen rising from Frying Pan Lake, Cathedral Rocks (made up of 60.000 year old rhyolitic lava) and Inferno Crater with its underwater geyser. Frying Pan Lake and Inferno Crater Lake are interconnected in a unique and complicated 38-day hydrothermal cycle. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inferno_Crater_Lake Waimangu geology See inset photos and notes

Frying Pan Lake is the world's largest hot spring. It is situated in Echo Crater in Waimangu Volcanic Valley , a 17km long rift opened up by the 1886 Mount Tarawera eruption. Frying Pan Lake was created in 1917 by a hydrothermal eruption. It is acidic and has a temperature of 50-60°C. www.gns.cri.nz/Home/Learning/Science-Topics/Volcanoes/New-Zealand-Volcanoes/Volcano-Geology-and-Hazards/Waimangu-Geology

"The margins of Waimangu Stream from Frying Pan Lake to east of Inferno Crater are covered with delicate silica formations and colourful mineral deposits containing traces of arsenic, molybdenum, antimony, and tungsten, while the stream bed is home to blue-green algae and filamentous colonies of the photosynthetic bacterium Chloroflexus aurantiacus in a range of colours from bright green to orange. In the midst of this area is the picturesque Bird's Nest Terrace, a delicate silica terrace with the small volcano-shaped Bird's Nest Spring atop continuously erupting near boiling-hot water about 1 metre (3 ft) high. The terrace is covered in blue-green algae, which cannot survive in the hot stream of water running down from the spring, providing a colourful contrast of green and orange." (Wiki)