Minecraft - Through the Portal

Several days after I had finished my house in Minecraft, I was showing it off to my brother-in-law who was quite impressed with my creation. I believe he said he was having a deja-vu moment since he had just helped us move in not that long before. We were messing around in my world a little, so I grabbed some Obsidian and a Flint-and-Steel, and together we ventured off into the Nether for the first time.


I had debated a little where to actually put the portal, but decided what the heck and put it right in my house's back yard. Two wide and three high, lit it up and off we went. I had seen some photos of the Nether online, but still wasn't completely sure what to expect. We spawned in an area shaped a little like a bowl with lots of Glowstone on the ceiling and a little lava fall off in the distance. Looked really neat.

The original Nether Portal. You can see the pathway up to the
tunnel we made in the background under the flaming arch.

Once we both got in there, there was a moment like "now what?" We explored a little bit around the first cavern and found the wall of Bedrock marking the edge of the Nether. It was on the opposite edge that we climbed up as far as we could, found a little opening, and began to dig. We went straight back a little, then took a left and began stepping down and down and down to see what we would hit. Eventually we broke through and found ourselves staring down into a massive lake of lava. Needless to say, that hole was quickly plugged with dirt and we changed the course of our path. We made an offshoot to the right for several blocks and dug down again. This time, we hit more Netherrack and felt safer. We eventually broke through again in a safer spot and made our way down to that lake of lava.

The second Nether Portal down by the lava lake.

Down at the Lava Lake, we continued downward even further until we hit more Bedrock meaning we had gone from the top of the Nether to the bottom. My brother decided he was going to play with fire and created a nice little lava fall down into the hole we just created. I think he only fell into the lava once or twice...

Also while we were down there, we created a second Nether Portal giving us two ways out. Turns out, the second portal was created right around my world's spawn point which was quite handy.

Creating the Lava Falls. Watch your step...

After that, I began harvesting materials. I had a nice supply of Nether materials, including the awesome Glowstone. My brother continued his quest to play with fire and I was obliged to help him out. He took the small lava fall near the first portal and turned it into a Lava Flood. I helped him dig out a few places and made a bridge over the river he had created. The photo above is of him standing in the center of the lava fall he was creating. I'm standing on the bridge I created. He did manage to get out alive before flooding his spot with more lava.

The hour got late and we grew tired and called it an evening shortly after that. I took my materials back to my house and used the Netherrack to create a fire in my fireplace (surrounded by stone and glass to keep the house from burning) and the Glowstone to create some neat ceiling lights. Fun times in the Nether. It's just a shame there isn't much else to do down there. I really only visit it when I'm low on Nether materials.

In my grand Minecraft Timeline, this gets us up to the point where I'm deciding what creation I want to tackle next. I wanted to build something big. I wanted it to be something familiar. I wanted something that was recognizable. It didn't take long to come up with the idea, and the insanely large project was about to get started. I knew I would need stone, lots and lots of stone, so I quickly came up with another project to do under my house that would easily get me started on what I needed.