27. Rotorua - Geysers & Geothermal Wonders

Tuesday 9 January

Our driver, Paris was over 25 minutes late in arriving and told us he didn't have time because of this to take us past the Government Gardens. Many, in fact, most, of the passengers complained loudly about this, as this was one of our "highlights", and you could have cut the air with a knife - the temperature dropped about 10 degrees! He (the driver) tried very hard to joke and stuff, but the passengers were not forgiving.

Wai-O-Tapu was fantastic, but we didn't have nearly enough time there. The time spent at a bungy jumping place later in the day was very long and very boring. It would have been better having more time at the geothermal areas and less at the bungy jump. We had to drive past the hostels to get to the bungy thing and many passengers asked could they be dropped off there as they weren't interested in looking at the bungy jump place.

Nothing doing - we all had to hang around at the bungy jump place. The weather had steadily worsened after leaving Wai-O-Tapu, and it was absolutely pouring, and when we did finally get to our hostels, you couldn't go anywhere - it just continued to pour buckets.


Geothermal Activity

As we approached the geothermal areas you could see the activity going on from the bus.


Lady Knox Geyser

Our first stop was at the Lady Knox Geyser which erupts every day at 10.15am - soap is dropped into the opening vent to ensure this occurs. Depending on the weather, the eruption can be up to 20m and rocks are placed around the base to enhance this.

Lady Knox Geyser

In 1901 the first open prison in New Zealand was established at Wai-O-Tapu to house some of the better behaved prisoners from around the gaols of the Rotorua Lakes District.

Some of those prisoners discovered the clearing in which the geyser is situated and that the spring could be made to erupt by adding soap - as they found when they first used the hot water to wash their clothes.

Our next stop was at Wai-O-Tapu which in English means "Sacred Waters."


Wai-O-Tapu

Above is the entrance which leads to a gift shop with many souvenirs for sale.


Entrance Garden

After going through the gift shop, you walk along this walkway which leads you to the geothermal "park."

Map of Wai-O-Tapu

Steaming Fumeroles - The Devil's Home

The Devil's Bath Lake

The green color is from colloidal sulphur/ferrous salts.

The luminous green Devil's Bath is a large rugged edged crater near the bush line with amazing natural water colour at its base. The colour comes from the excess water from the champagne pool mixing with sulphur and ferrous salts. Changes in colour through Green to Yellow are associated with the amount of reflecter light and cloud cover.