Geothermal activities are the draw at Rotorua with its geysers, mud pools and steaming lakes that stem from the Rotorua caldera on which the town sits—it's literally a hotbed of activity. What other place has a steaming pond in the middle of town? And so going thermal is where I start.

As soon as I stumble across the website for Waimangu Volcanic Valley while researching local attractions, I have to put it on my list.