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Published: March 14th 2016
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Today I'm off exploring geothermal wonders about 15 miles away from Rotorua where I'm staying. Unfortunately it's little drizzly so I'm kitted out in walking gear - walking boots, fleece, waterproofs etc. We pick up a few people along the way including one ditzy girl who gets on the bus wearing the flimsiest little summer dress and flip flops. The only other thing she has with her is a mobile phone. Rolls eyes!
As we drive out of Rotorua Thomas our guide gives us the low down on Rotorua. Of the 70,000 population a quarter are involved in the tourist industry looking after around three million tourists a year! We pass a race course on our left. Who knew, horse racing in Rotorua? I wonder if the smell puts the horses off. Did I mention there is a constant sulphurous stench in the air from all the geothermal activity? I spot one restaurant aptly named 'Aroma'! As we drive out of Rotorua we see steam randomly rising up out of the undergrowth - so weird. Thomas explains that forestry is the second biggest industry in the area after tourism. We are passing through one of the largest conifer plantation forests
in the world. They are predominantly American pines and the trees grow a lot more quickly here than in the US taking just 30 years to mature compared to 80 in America. Alongside the road runs a long distance cycle track, one of many all over New Zealand. Thomas tells us that there are around 500 earthquakes a year in this region, but most are very small and hardly noticeable, just releasing a little pressure bit by bit.
We arrive at our first stop of the day, an incredible mud pool. It's a heaving mass of plopping mud with steam rising all around. Just thinking about how much heat is needed to make mud boil makes us not lean too heavily on the wooden balustrade!
We then drive a little further on to see the Lady Knox geyser blow. She does this very obligingly at10.15am every day. How does she manage to be so accurate? All mystery is taken away as the geyser geezer arrives to put some special detergent in the hole of the white cone covering the trapped, pressurised boiling hot water below. After a bit of lather frothing she spits up a gush of steam
into the sky much to the the delight of the crowd all waiting with cameras at the ready.
And so to Wai-O-Tapu thermal wonderland. In Maori wai means water, tapu means sacred and o gives the plural, so we are really visiting the Sacred Waters. The area is set out really well along marked trails and boardwalks with many signs advising you of the dangers of straying off these paths. It's ok, I can see the boiling water and steam. I'm not straying anywhere. Unsurprisingly there aren't any geocaches hidden here!
We have a map and leaflet and a numbered trail to follow pointing out the many amazing geothermal wonders. I find out that the vivid colours are completely natural despite looking like some neon crazed explosion in a lycra factory! Greens are from colloidal sulphur and ferrous salts, orange from antimony, purple from manganese oxide and the beautiful, clean white from silica. Yellow is from sulphur, reddish-brown from iron oxide and black from sulphur and carbon. Written down this all sound very plausible, but when you actually see the bright colours it's truly awesome and utterly unbelievable.
At a couple of points a board walk crosses
a large steaming terrace, apparently an experience unique to Wai-O-Tapu. The timber is specially treated to withstand the heat and stainless steel pins hold it all together. Not a place you want to stumble and trip.
The site is on many levels so you are able to see the geothermal features close up and looking down from above.
The whole place is other worldly, absolutely fascinating and creates so many wow moments. The biggest wow moment is saved for the very end of the trail when there before you is the most unbelievably lurid green pool imaginable, aptly named the Devil's Bath.
An incredible morning over we drive off to my next drop off point at Waimangu.
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