Vacation gives us comfort. If you want a charming scenery, try to visit Rotorua region of New Zealand. This is Maori country. The ancient Polynesians were the first to populate New Zealand, and they soon discovered the wonders of the North Island's geothermal plateau, coming to Rotorua about 500 years ago. constitute about one-third of Rotorua's population, a far bigger proportion than in the country as a whole. So this is probably the best place in New Zealand to experience Maori culture, from enjoying a hangi (feast) to seeing cultural centers and artisans at work. In here you can see the world’s largest hot springs.

Moreover, you can experience bungee-jumping, zorbing (rolling down a hill inside a huge ball), riding a land luge, jet-boating, caving or partaking in the area's myriad other adventures.

New Zealand also have Lake Taupo, an hour away and New Zealand's largest lake, boasts some of the world's best trout fishing. region's sparkling lakes or rivers, you are practically guaranteed to catch trophy-size rainbow and brown trout. But for most visitors, the region's geothermal hot spots are the big draw.

One of the best such spots is the Wai-o-Tapu Thermal Wonderland, about 17 miles south of Rotorua along scenic SH5, the "Thermal Explorer Highway." Here you can trod well-maintained boardwalks to see colorful geothermal features in a beautiful forest setting with expansive views. Plan to spend at least 90 minutes if you want to see everything. Steaming craters, silica terraces and boiling pools of mud and water abound as you traverse the area, which sits on the edge of a huge, 160,000-year-old volcanic caldera.

Here are some highlights of a place that bills itself as "volcanic theater with thermal artistry on a grand scale."

• The Champagne Pool: This blue hot spring the size of a small glacial lake in the Sierra is an enormous hissing, bubbling, colorful mass of water. Its surface temperature is 165 degrees, and minerals include gold, silver, mercury and the ubiquitous sulphur.
• The Artist's Palette: An even bigger panorama of hot pools within cooler water features fumaroles (steam vents) emerging right out of the water. It's very colorful as a result of various minerals in the water and on the shore.
• Mud pools: Collectively, this is literally a mud pond, dwarfing those in our Yellowstone and Lassen national parks and large enough to have a small shoreline. Mud boils up in the hottest spots, making odd gurgling sounds.
• Lady Knox geyser: It erupts daily at 10:15 a.m., reaching as high as 20 meters (over 60 feet). This one gets an asterisk in the geyser record books, as the eruption is induced by placement of a soaplike product inside.

Another outstanding geothermal site is the nearby Waimangu Volcanic Valley, formed in 1886 with the eruption of Mount Tarawera - the world's only known geothermal area created by an event in recorded times. The eruption split the mountain in half along a 10-mile rift; expanded Lake Rotomahana to 20 times its previous size; created the "buried village," killing 150 people; destroyed nearby terraces that were a major tourist attraction; and formed seven craters that make up today's Waimangu site.

Visiting New Zealand is a worthwhile adventure, it will give us the comfort that nature wants for us. This si God-given creation fro all of us. [via chicagotribune.com]