Rotorua Geothermal

Heaven and hell combined

If anyone ever tells you to "Go to hell", your reply should be ... "bring it on!" For hell can be pure ecstasy — if you're in Rotorua that is.

One of Rotorua's award-winning geothermal reserves, Hell's Gate certainly looks the part. Fissures hiss their seething salutation as the Devil’s Cauldron lobs blistering mud globules to the surface. Nearby, the soil lies scarred; barren and pocked from the shell-cracking power beneath.

But, this acrid environment holds a heavenly recipe. Alongside the largest hot waterfall in the southern hemisphere — and a mud-spewing volcano — is a spa facility featuring delicious body-dipping mud baths, sulpher pools and traditional massage (mirimiri).

While you're neck-deep in mud at Hell's Gate, consider this: beneath you lies one almighty power that gives a daily reminder of its caustic clout.

Every day the Lady Knox Geyser erupts, spewing lukewarm water 30 metres into the air. At nearby Waimangu Volcanic Valley, the Frying Pan Lake, with its steamy acidic broth, is the largest hot spring in the world.

But the most dazzling feature is a turquoise swimming pool. Lined with gothic-like cathedral walls, Inferno Crater is a 30-metre lake and the largest geyser-like feature in the world. It would be easy to imagine you're standing before a refreshing cooling point in a coastal resort, but you’re not. This post-Mt Tarawera eruption pool could easily cause third-degree burns. Obviously not the best place to take a dip!