Geothermical Activity

Between Rotorua and Taupo is a loop of crazy geothermal activity. Turns out that the north island of New Zeland is made from the joining of two tectonic plates, and this region is a result. Yesterday afternoon we toured Waimangu Volcanic Valley, and today we did Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland, and Orakei Korako, on the west side of the loop.

Again, it continued to feel like a young, tropical Yellowstone. And the landscape lends itself to certain themes. Mainly, anything to do with the Devil, Hell, or a frying pan. Devil's bath, devil's home, devil's throat, and so forth.

We started the day with the Lady Knox Geyser at 10.15a in Waiotapu. I was at first intensely surprised that the guide crossed the fence and walked right up to the geyeser to do her speech at 10.13a. I thought it must be incredibly predictable. And it is, sort of. She went on the explain a story of some workmen working nearby in the bush, who wanted to find a way to wash their clothes. So they got them wet, sudsed them up, and put them in the hotspring nearby. Where apparently the surfactant agent of the soap caused the hot pool to turn into a geyser!

So now they take the Lady Knox Geyeser, which is somewhat unpredictable, and put soap in her at 10.15 every morning and she shortly thereafter massively erupts. For a very long time. It was great. The only part that wasn't great was all the other tourists.

Even in this off season, tourists can run amuck. There was a bedlam of media, cameras on tripods, everyone standing in the way, taking selfies simultanous to someone taking their actual photo. And not just one selfie! 20! From every angle. And then let's start on the cute ones where we pretend to hold up the geyeser etc. I really started to pop my own top, and had to ask multiple people to stop standing in front of me.

Given this ridiculous tourism disiplay, the end of the day was quite nice. Orakei Korako is off the beaten track a little. The price includes a ferry across the river, and the park contains the largest silica terrace on the island. Nate and I ran into no one else on the walk. Open holes in the earth were everywhere, big and small. The whole place was smoldering and venting. One of my favorite parts was probably the mud pools, which were bubbling with the consistency of a pudding.

I wouldn't mind staying in this region longer, but there's more to do tomorrow as we make our way down to Tongariro National Park. That's likely as far south as we'll go, as we need to start making our way back north up the west side of the island. I'd reccomend for folks coming over, give yourself a month for each island. There's a lot of amazing things packed into this tiny place.Read more