Rotorua Part 4: Wai-o-Tapu Geothermal Wonderland

The next day, we went to Wai-o-Tapu (Sacred Water) Geothermal Wonderland, which is a little ways outside Rotorua, and mostly on our way home. Anna and Ollie had recommended it, so we figured we'd better check it out. It was well worth the effort. We had a great morning there, and will definitely recommend it to others.

We turned off the main highway at the Wai-o-Tapu sign, and immediately started seeing steam billowing out from the landscape. The smell, of course, was not enjoyable, but it was pretty neat to be seeing otherwise normal looking bushes and trees, but with this crazy steam everywhere!

We got there just in time for the 10:15 eruption of the Lady Knox Geyser. It doesn't actually erupt exactly every 24 hours, so they trigger it, but they had a cool story to go with it. Apparently, when this area was first discovered by pākehā, it was used as a prison site (way to go, white people). Some prisoners found this hot springs before it was built up into this cone of deposits, and they thought it would be a great place to wash their clothes. To their surprise, the soap they used triggered and eruption, causing hot water and all their clothes to go flying way up into the air! Quite a funny image, if you ask me. Anyway, so they still use soap to put into the geyser to make it erupt each morning.

The eruption was quite cool and very high, but I have to say that it was not the highlight of our trip, and I'm not sure I would get up early to see it next time.

After the geyser, we went into the actual park area, and spend several hours walking around looking at the various embodiments of geothermal activity reaching the surface. These pictures are not in any particular order, nor could I possible manage to post a picture of every cool thing we saw. But hopefully you will enjoy the ones I have chosen.

This is an overlook for what some of the area looked like. Admittedly not the most exciting bits, but it is still nice to get a sense of the layout. A lot of the trails looked like that little one going in between the pools, and you can see the cool colour of the little stream up near the top.

This is me in front of one of the many craters in the area. Many of them have caved in from the heat, or earthquakes, or whatever excitement was going on at the time. They were actually very cool, but hard to get a good picture of, on account of the steam.

This is J crossing the Primrose Terrace. On either side of the small boardwalk we are standing on is hot water/minerals bubbling or oozing out of the ground. Someone described it to me as "death on either side," and I'm not sure that I would go far, but I'd guess you'd get some nasty burns if you managed to fall, and I have to say that I'm glad we didn't find out.

Here is a J-less picture of the Primrose Terrace. Notice the variety of colours!

An interesting note from the guide map: "These sinter terraces are the largest in New Zealand since the partial destruction of the Pink and White Terraces in the eruption of Mt. Tarawera (1886)." 

An interesting note from me: I am glad to have seen the next best thing to the Pink Terraces that I was so disappointed to have missed (by 128 years) in Rotorua. Also, I had to look up the word "sinter" - apparently it means "a hard siliceous or calcareous deposit precipitated from mineral springs." In this case, it is siliceous, and comes from the Champagne Pool. Now we know.

This is the aforementioned Champagne Pool, and one of the most well-known attractions at Wai-o-Tapu. It is 62m (203ft) deep, and the water in it is 74C (165F)! The red/orange deposits at the side (which I hope you can see are very bubbly and awesome looking) are a mixture of minerals including gold, silver, mercury, sulphur, and arsenic, just to name a few.

These raised edges are from those deposits eventually hardening into rock. The guide map says, "The various sinter ledges have been associated with tilting of the pool as consequence of earthquake activity."

I think it looks like the edge of the world.

  

J at the edge of the world. Notice, however that he is in no danger, because there is a very secure fence between him and certain death. And it is conveniently placed right at shin heigh, for maximum impact.

Also, I would like everyone to know that somewhere along the line I have indeed developed some self-restraint, because despite the immense temptation, my voice of reason convinced me not to follow that deliciously enticing path off the edge of the world. (J may have helped a bit with the convincing.)

I have saved my favourites for last - the next three pictures were the three things that I liked the most about Wai-o-Tapu. So here goes:

This is the Devil's Bath, and yes, it really is that colour! Wow! Apparently, it can also look quite yellow some days, depending on the weather, but it was green, green, green on our day!

Note: Lots of things were named Devil's _______. We debated it extensively on our walk, and eventually decided that the most simple explanation was probably the correct one - the Devil is associated with hot things and with the center of the earth, so... these things must be his, and are named accordingly.

This is Lake Ngakoro (Grandfather). I truly love the colour of it, and somehow the fact that it is the size of a normal lake, and yet that amazing colour, makes it all the more exciting. I should have gotten a higher-up picture of it, but this is what we got. 

This is the Oyster Pool, which struck me as quite dainty and tidy in the midst of all this other excitement. This is especially true because not only is the water quite precisely circular, the little bubbles that were coming up surfaced right in the middle like the pearl that it's name suggests.