Setting Inspiration: Geothermal Parks

I thought I'd kick off this blog series with a few places I visited while in New Zealand, using my own photos.

Firstly, an introduction to these posts: a collection of gorgeous or fascinating places that I think would make for great settings in sci-fi/fantasy novels (or anything else!). This is essentially EarthPorn, but I'm going to pretend I'm clever by putting a literary spin on things. These posts include places I have used in writing, will use, or simply admire. They can't all be my own photos because, for one thing, some of them are other planets.

I also want to say loud and clear that I would be very excited for submissions of your own photos. 

If you have pictures of a place that's unearthly, haunting, breathtaking, or otherwise memorable, please comment or tweet me and I'll see about giving them their own post.

Now, with that out of the way, allow me to introduce our very first showcase: the geothermal parks in New Zealand!

 

Both of these parks are located near Taupo. One is Orakei Korako (below), set across a beautiful lake and reachable by short boat ride. The other one... I can't remember which park it is. I think it was part of one of the Maori villages. (That's the one above.)

Take a minute to look at the scale on the photo below. Notice the trees. That thing is big.

More of the other park:

Say hello to my good friend and veterinarian Elyssa.

The mists are hauntingly beautiful. I also personally love the sulfur smell, even though I know others don't. I find it very... natural? It makes me think of warm, soothing hot springs.

Here's a picture of me several years ago, another indication of scale. Also, every time I look at this photo, I remember how delicious that mocha was. Might be the best mocha I ever had.

Oh and here's another park from a different trip, but also near Taupo. I believe this was a hot spring / spa place that also had a trail loop through the geothermal terraces:

 

Some thoughts on this as a setting:

Visually, the rising steam is what I love most. Each geothermal park is slightly different. From the three here, you can see pools, flows, and terraces. Some have mud pools, most (all?) have hot springs. One--the last one--has a geyser. The minerals create lots of colors, as you can see from the photo with me standing in front of them. However, my favorite part is always the patches of steam drifting up unevenly from the landscape.

The smell of sulfur, like I've already mentioned, is distinctive. It's pungent, but I don't find it negative, myself. The other thing that struck me about these places was the warmth. I was visiting on hot days to begin with, and the added heat became almost overwhelming if you got too close or stuck around too long. I imagine in the cooler months, the heat is wonderful.

Check back in the future for more setting inspirations. Some will be short, some will be long. Some will be places I've been, some will be places nobody's been. And by all means, please send me your suggestions for this series!