Waiotapu thermal area

Well, what can I say? Yes, I know, not another post for a little while... but hey, our WWOOFing here in Rotorua is so nice that we have prolonged our stay a little and thus we can also profit from the Internet here a little longer and you get to read a little bit more about our life in New Zealand. As we were talking quite a bit about surreal landscapes lately, we thought we might continue in that way and take you out on one of the trips we did while WWOOFing here, a walk through the Waiotapu Thermal Area.

Rotorua is not only famous for its Maori traditions and the high percentage of Maori still living here, it is also a very active volcanic region which, combined with a lot of water, makes for some very astonishing sights and landscapes. One of those sights is Lady Grey Geyser which erupts on 10.15am on time every morning. No, you don't believe this? Well, yea, nature is not quite that predictable but some biodegradable soap thrown into the geyser does the trick quite well. It was actually some prisoners of the region who found out about the effects of soap to the pressure of the underground water when they were trying to wash their clothes in the hot spring water some years ago. Must have been quite a fright for them when the thing suddenly blew off! :)

But Waiotapo has lots more to offer to the interested visitor. Imagine any kind of bizarre landscape and you can probably find it there. David's post shows some of the deep craters with bubbling water or mud, overhanging caves colored all yellow by the sulfur, silica rivers, or the incredible Devil's bath, the lake with the amazing greenish fluorescent water! However, there are other water- and rock- colors to be observed as shows the picture here on the right. A strange place, isn't it?

Champagne Pool, one of the major water sources in the whole thermal region, was definitely one of the highlights of the whole trip. The colors were just amazing (the odor as well) and the hot steam on the skin felt really sticky and strange. When it actually first hits you, the natural reaction is trying not to breath but of course you stay there for so long staring at the changing colors of the steam and at the bubbles coming up through the water that you just have to take a breath sooner or later. You somehow get used to the smell after a while but nevertheless it made my head quite dizzy.

Of course everybody reacts to an environment differently and while David was extremely fascinated by the fact which mineral created which color in the rocks and water, for me the whole region was more interesting from a photographer's point of view:



The right camera is still missing but I guess the pictures do give you an idea of what wonderful details the landscape reveals once you have overcome the first astonishment about the "big picture". We spent some hours strolling through the region and discovering many small and big miracles. In its own way, this little brother of Tongariro caught our admiration quite as well and we were still wondering how this might have come to be or how that might work when we were taking a nice bath in a small pool not far from Waiotapo where a hot and a cold river meet and you can decide which water temperature you like best. (Yes, we smelled terribly after the bath but don't they say hot springs are healthy???) Overall, the whole trip was really worthwhile and we definitely won't forget it soon.