Entering the geothermal world

New Zealand offers so much in terms of geography and today we entered the weird and wonderful geothermic part of this country. We headed to a place called Orakei Korako which is a geothermic site that includes one of the only two caves in the world formed by geothermic activity. The other cave is in Italy. We were the first to arrive to the park and initially got a bit of a weird vibe when we entered the centre with the 4 people in there not really making any effort with us which left us wondering who actually worked here. Plus one had a dog with them so it was all a little strange. We managed to order some coffees and get our tickets and it wasn't long before we headed over the river on a little boat to the site. Nick asked the boat driver if he knew much about the history of the area to which the guy just replied "yep" and didn't continue so that was quite awkward. Luckily it was a short boat ride and then we were left to do the self guided walk in our own time which we were quite pleased about given our reception. We had about 10 minutes before the next car arrived so it was nice to have the place to ourselves even if it wasn't for too long. The landscape was insane with steam rising from the most random of places. Lots of different coloured algae grow on the rocks so there was a whole rainbow of hues going on. We did get the odd waft of sulphur but it wasn't as overpowering as I thought it would be. They had a couple of geysers but we weren't lucky enough to see the main one errupt. Apparently it happens every 2 to 3 hours but also somedays not at all so we did wait for a little while but decided to just carry on our walk and return later to see if anything had changed. The build up and layers of silica and algae look like they are slowly melting down into the river and taking back the landscape. Signs were beginning to be swallowed up in their path and it's then even more impressive to realise that this isn't lava or molten rock building up but simply minerals in the water itself. It just shows what a high content of minerals there must be here. We entered areas aptly named Artist's Palette where a huge area was a mass swirl of amazing colours around so many craters and pools and Devil's Hole where steam continuously rises and water spits from a small hole in the rock. In the bush they also have random spots of steam rising and we saw more of this as we headed up the track to the cave. It was a mighty impressive cave especially because it was formed by boiling water and steam. The site also had thick mud pools bubbling away like something in a witch's cauldron. We spent almost 2 and half hours exploring which is crazy when people who arrived after us left long before we did. After our boat ride back over we headed back towards Taupo. We wanted to experience this geothermal activity more so we visited the Wairakei Terraces and Hot Pools. This area use to have natural thermal terraces but unfortunately they were buried during a volcanic eruption. This site has made artificial ones initially and then have directed the geothermic water to flow over the terraces and now over the 8 years or so they have been opened a large layer of silica has built up on the rocks so it is creating the original effect in some way. I don't think we've ever been more okay with it raining outside. When you're sat in 35-42 degree water the rain falling down is actually quite nice. The pool right at the top terrace was the hottest at 42 degrees and after ten minutes or so you did have to move into one of the lower pools. We spent quite a while talking to a couple in their 60s from the USA about their time here and ours. As lovely as it was to talk to them it was nice when they moved on so we could just sit back, relax and wash away the day. Once we resembled prunes we decided to get out and it was after talking to the man in reception that we discovered that here in Taupo they use 90% of the steam that rises to convert into electricity which I think is brilliant. Our freedom camping spot for the night is right on Lake Taupo. It's a shame it's so cloudy so we don't have much of a view but I'm so happy to not be under a tree tonight that it doesn't matter. The tree last night showered us in sticks during the 35km winds we had so I didn't get much sleep at all. To say I'm looking forward to bed is a huge understatement!Read more