The next step on our waterfall tour, oh wait, I mean honeymoon, was Kakahi Falls in Rotorua. It is the largest thermal waterfall in the Southern Hemisphere and is in Hell's Gate Thermal Reserve. Because New Zealand was created by two techtonic plates colliding, there are volcanoes, mountains, and lots of hot springs/thermal reserves and this is one of them.
Hell's Gate Reserve was/is a sacred area to the Maori, the first cultural group to settle in New Zealand. They still use some parts of the park for religious/spiritual reasons. It is a realy interesting place. It helped that the day we went it was rainy/misty so the whole place had this surreal quality about it. It had a steam coming from the ground, sulfur bubbling up in mud and water, and even a mud volcano!
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