Waimangu Volcanic Valley

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From Rotorua to Napier we drove down the Thermal Highway offering many opportunities to see the results of the volcanic and geothermal activity of New Zealand. We stopped to walk a most interesting and informative self-guided tour along the Waimangu Volcanic Valley where sulphurous fumes spew out of vents in the rocks in numerous locations.

On June 10, 1886, a line of craters from the northern end of Tarawera all the way to the Waimangu Valley was formed by violent erruption. All plant, animal and bird life was destroyed but in the intervening years lush plant life has returned to all but the hottest spots of geothermal activity and the birds do not seem to mind the sulphurous fumes.

The fern and the kiwi bird are New Zealand's national emblems. The huge ferns, something like palm trees with ferns instead of palm leaves, are everywhere. Sadly, the kiwi, nocturnal and endangered, is harder to find. Even after three attempts to view it in captivity, the closest we have come, without studying the frequent mounds of roadkill along the highway, is this stuffed one at the Kiwi House. Bigger than I thought, the body of an adult is about the size of a large honeydew melon.

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Photos

Kiwi
Stuffed

Fern
With thermals in background

Sulphur crystals
Vent along side of walking path

Frying Pan lake
Spilling water at 55C

Inferno crater
Regularly fills with 80C water and spills over its lip

Rotomahana Lake
With Mount Tarawera in background

Foxglove
Busy bee

Male Chaffinch
Feeding on algae

Warbrick Terrace
Multi-coloured silica platforms

Pukeko
Swamphen

Black swans
on lake Rotomahana