We woke to a grey sky threatening rain but we were prepared, we had a plan and we weren’t going to let inclement weather put a dampener on our day (ahem).
We headed back toward Rotorua to visit the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland; and we didn’t have time to waste as at 10:15 sharp the Lady Knox Geyser erupts. And it did, and it was … well … okay I guess. But if I’m honest, it was a bit of a damp squib.
However, the morning was just beginning and we had the whole of the Thermal Wonderland to explore. Let me step back a bit – there’s a bit of the North Island of New Zealand that stretches from Whakatane (where we were a few days ago) down to Ruapehu (where we were yesterday) where the Australian plate pushes under the Pacific plate. This means that the Earth’s molten core is only about 8,000 meters below the ground on which I’m sitting now; while it’s usually a much more comforting 30,000 and 50,000 meters below us. This results in some pretty major volcanic activity in the region. As you drive between Rotorua and Taupo you can’t miss the plumes of white vapour leaking from the ground all around you – and the smell of hydrogen sulphide – oh and the volcanoes everywhere.
So, back to the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland; it’s 18 square kilometers of thermal pools, geysers, strange coloured lakes and god awful smells. It’s actually a pretty amazing way to kill a few hours. All of the photos here are pretty much true colours.
Exhausted from our adventure, we headed through the now persistent drizzle back into Rotorua to the museum. And it was a pretty excellent museum. The building used to be a spa (harnessing the foul smelling corrosive hot springs again) where they conducted all manner of horrendous tortures in the name of curing what ails you.
The Obligatory Blog 