8th April - Rotorua - Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland
Aurora_b
Mike and Liz Downing
Tue 19 Apr 2011 10:38
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Having arrived in Tauranga on Sunday, 3rd April, and having
had a lot of rain, we were pleased to see a good forecast for the following
weekend. They forecast a high pressure that for once looked like it was going to
hang around for a few days. That was all we needed to arrange a hire car and
book a couple of motels - 2 nights in Rotorua and 2 nights in Turangi, the
northern gateway to the Tongariro National Park. So it was off to Rotorua
on Friday the 8th April. It's only about a hour's drive, initially climbing up
through green hills and then into lower pasture land. Driving is never dull in
New Zealand. Rotorua is a city (NZ definition - we would call it a town)
and much bigger than we were expecting. Some locals refer to it
as Roto-vegas and we could see why when we drove in - big wide roads
with hoardings and the like all over the place, most unlike anything else
we have found here so far. And the motels - we passed loads and loads of motels
to get to the one we were staying at. They are all very nicely laid out, as is
the city, but it seems totally focused on tourists having a good time,
whether sightseeing the geothermal landscape of boiling mud pools,
sulphur vents and geysers, the huge lake and surrounding
countryside, the Maori culture (it's very strong in this area), taking scenic
flights, trekking (or tramping as they call it), extreme
adventures (eg white-water rafting, jet-boating and bungy jumping - they
have it all here) or the night life.
Our first stop was the Polynesian Spa - hot mineral
bathing and spa - to have a nice long relaxing therapeutic soak. You can
have private pools, scenic pools (pools with a better view) or the general pools
which we chose - 7 hot mineral spring pools ranging from 38C to 42C -
very nice! The next day it was off to see the geothermals. All the well
known geothermal attractions are in well established 'theme' parks for
which you have to pay, but they are well laid out, all different and worth
seeing, especially with blue skies and brilliant sunshine. The first,
Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland, has the famous Lady Knox Geyser (erupting up
to 60ft), over a dozen volcanic craters, a champagne (coloured) pool,
sinter terraces, opal pool and pools of all colours blue-green-yellow, boiling
mud pools and lots and lots of sulphur smelling steam! For the range and
beauty of geothermals, it was the best.
 Lake Rotorua - Rotorua is on it's shores. Not the
object in the water on the left .......
 ..... a better view! There were quite a
lot on the lake.
 All waiting for Lady Knox to erupt, at 10.15 every
day.
 There she blows! (but with some help from a bit of
soap!)
We wondered what caused the geyser to erupt so
precisely at 10.15 each day. The reason is simple - they give it a helping
hand by adding some soap. Soap is a surfactant that breaks
down the surface tension between two layers of water, a cold layer on top
and a hot layer underneath. These then mix and steam is created that
expands in a restricted space, causing the eruption. They say that without
the soap it erupts naturally every 2 or 3 days.
 The most vibrant colour we saw - The Champagne
Lake. The board below says a bit more.
  A boardwalk across the Artist's Palette. The wood
had to be specially treated for the heat and
chemicals.
 Tracts of hot smoking rocks and vents surrounded
by bush
(and beautiful blue sky
above)
 The yellow temperature warning gauge says
it's 100C, so we won't get any closer!
 Pools of every colour.
   A sinter 'river' - it's rock-hard silica (a
whitish chemical sediment consisting
of porous silica or calcium carbonate deposited
by hot mineral springs).
 One of the lakes with boiling tributaries and
pools.
 More sinter and pools, and not
forgetting .....
 ...... the boiling mud pools! Everything you
expect and more is here.
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