Wai-o-Tapu

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Lady Knox Geyser
Not content with all the geothermal activity we had already enjoyed, we also visited Wai-O-Tapu as we headed South to Lake Taupo. Rach was turning into a bit of cynic and felt a bit of berk sitting in a mini stadium seating arrangement around a small geyser that was scheduled to go off at 10am, hmm...scheduled spurting - what are they going to do press a button? Lots of annoying tour groups arrived and the place was pretty full by 10am. A little guy came up and started telling us about the history of the Lady Knox Geyser, which had been discovered by prisoners working in the area when planting the pine forest. The story says they used this hot water source to wash their clothes as laundry was a luxury for prisoners back in those days. Some of the carbolic from the soap was washed down into the geyser and caused the super-heated water to erupt in a spectacular fashion. This phenomenon attracted tourist attention, and apparently the geyser was bestowed its namesake from a visiting lady. Well, that explained how the geyser could be activated at 10am anyway. The guy chucked a bag of carbolic down to the hole and the crowd waited in anticipation. At first the fluffy foam spilling down the sides was a bit disappointing, but then it really got going, and everyone was ooooing and ahhhhing like it was a pretty, but boring, Roman Candle on Bonfire Night.

But Wai-o-Tapu is well worth a visit, despite it's silly geyser show, because the pools and craters there are simply stunning. Because everyone had arrived at the same time for the geyser, we attempted to avoid the crowds by going backwards around the route and it was pretty successful. We both marvelled at the beautiful colours created by iron oxide, arsenic and acrimony and sulphur. The Artist's Palette really lived up to it's name and the Devil's Bath was a brilliant, lurid lime green.

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Photos

Lady Knox Geyser
Just brewing...

There she goes!
After adding the magic carbolic

The Devil´s Bath
How many baths does the fella need? Nice colour though - does he shop at Lush?

Comments

[Debra]

Pea soup
The Devil's bath is a great name for that lot of pea soup.