Its hard to miss the rising steam and the occasional hissing and bubbling sounds you hear as you enter the city of Rotorua. Kuirau park is right in the city and can be visited free of charge. It gives the first glimpses of the volcanic action happening under the ground.
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| Waimangu Volcanic Valley |
For more action drive to the Waimangu Volcanic Valley south of the city. Nature seems to be working wonders in this area. We went to the wai-o-tapu park. It has colorful craters, boiling mud pools, hot springs, stunning geysers, sulphur pools all crammed into a small area. All of these are easily accessible by a walking path.
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| Neon green lake |
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| Mineral Stained rocks |
The rows of seats get filled by visitor to watch the geyser, Lady of Knox erupt. The geyser requires a slight prompting by some soap to initiate the process. Starting as a mere spill it shoots water to a height of 20m and then slowly calms down. The duration of the show is determined by the then ongoing thermal activity. The geyser was discovered by a group of prisoners who used some soap to wash their clothes in the hot water and must have been surprised to see the water shoot.
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| Lady Knox geyser, the eruption just starting |
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| Lady Knox geyser shooting jets of water |
The mineral stained rocks, colored pools create an artist’s palette to marvel over. There are many vibrant sulphur pools in the park. The champagne pool is the most colorful of them, with steam rising owing to the ongoing geothermal activity. It is rimmed by multiple shades of yellow and orange caused by the different ore deposits. Legend goes that the Maori people threw mean people in the baths to punish them.
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| Champagne pool in Wai-o-tapu |
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| Vivid Colors in the champagne pool |
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| Artistically rimmed |
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| Steam rising over the bath |
We were most fascinated by the bubbling mud pools, the largest in New Zealand. The grey slurry doesn’t make for an appealing sight but the tiny muddy volcanoes that keep erupting can’t be resisted a second look. The mud here seems to come alive with each bubble forming rings around itself. The area is fenced to keep you off getting any mud pack. There are the occasional little mud devils which spring up higher than anticipated and splatter mud around.
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| If roses were grey |
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| circles around a mud pool |
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| caught this in action |
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| bubbling mud in cloud of steam |
The area has lot of amusing sights. But the pungent smell of all the sulphur will certainly knock you back as soon as you step out of the car and does not relent. We just engrossed ourselves in the sights around to keep us distracted.
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| The fungus here was a different hue |
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| Devils pool, with the mud pools |
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| Colored sulfur pools were all around in this area |
There are also hot pools in this area which can be very relaxing. It was a warm summer day so we passed on it. We sure couldn’t resist the calling of a water filled zorb. We got into one and rolled down the meadows.
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I was trekking through NZ this time last year, and I stopped in Rotorua. It was fascinating.
Hi there, your views are nice