Someone is using my name in an attempt to scam people. I am not now nor have I ever been looking for any kind of assistant. I certainly wouldn't ever ask anyone to cash a check to me or to make a Western Union payment to anyone else (especially not someone in Manilla!). This is a classic Fake Check scam. Learn more about that at www.fakechecks.org. If you've been in contact with this person, please report them ASAP!
 
A dead plant sticks out of the thermal pond in Rotorua.  It makes me wonder how long this pond has existed.
Rotorua is a town that sits right in the middle of a massive thermal hotspot.  This is from a park in the middle of town.  The lake is hot so it is steaming and it smells like sulfur.
There is a park in the middle of Roturua that has a bunch of these mud pots.  These are actually one of my favorite thermal features.  They're not as colorful but they make a pleasing bloop bloop sound.
Beth and her dad look at Beth's favorite flower the hydrangea.  Apparently these and many other flowers came from China.  That's the story that we were told over and over again :)  Beth was happy since the Hydrangeas at home had long since lost their flowers (being winter and all).
A macro of a rose in Rotorua.  It was certainly nice to be in a place that was in bloom.
Maori statues at the entrance of their villiage.
Warren takes his spot in the front of "Waka Huia" on the way to the Maori cultural show.
Yay the first "s" curve of the trip.  This was a footpath over the hot waters of a pond in the park in Rotorua.
A dead plant sticks out of the thermal pond in Rotorua. It makes me wonder how long this pond has existed.
A dead plant sticks out of the thermal pond in Rotorua.  It makes me wonder how long this pond has existed.
A dead plant sticks out of the thermal pond in Rotorua. It makes me wonder how long this pond has existed.
See photo in original gallery.