The scent of sulfur permeates the air, nearby geothermal hotspots spout geysers, acrid-smelling mud pools bubble and belch, and warm geothermal ponds create a kaleidoscope of color.
I think he caught a whiff of the town....
Downtown Rotorua
Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland is located about 25km south of Rotorua. One of the more popular features, Lady Knox Geyser, erupts daily at 10:15am reaching heights of up to 20 meters and can continue to erupt for up to one hour. I arrived at the park when it opened at 8:30am, so I would have plenty of time to view the park and then head over to the geyser. I was on the orange path around 9:15, when other tourists in the park started racing off the paths to see the geyser.
I thought it was insane to save a seat for an hour, so finished the orange path and started on the yellow path. After finishing the yellow path, I headed back towards the visitor's center. By this time it was 9:20. Oops. My watch stopped. It was really 10:45 by the time I got to the visitors center, then it was to my car to drive the road to the geyser. As I was heading in, the hoards of other tourists were racing out, trying to be the first back to the main park. Above is the tail end of the geyser. No wonder the park was so empty and relaxing while I was there :-)
Try to stay on the path while walking through hot sulfurous gas. The smell stays on your clothes, too. Woo hoo.{Interesting sidebar ... If you use the British spelling "sulphurous", spell check recommends "sumptuous". Can you think of a worse-fitting alternate word? }
Champagne Pool
Devil's Bath. Makes you wonder if he was bathing in radioactive waste
Boiling pools of mud... up close and personal
Rotorua is the spiritual home to the Maori. No trip to this area would be complete without visiting the ultimate tourist trap... the Maori Hangi (similar to a Hawaiian Luau). It's a bad buffet and cultural show all rolled into one very large price.
I hoped to meet the Maori model who posed for this statue!
No such luck... :-P
The Buried Village shows the history of Te Wairoa, a village buried when Mount Tarawera erupted in 1886. According to local legend, the Maori High Priest who lived in this whare (dwelling) was 110 years old. He prophesied the eruption, to then have his home smothered by mud and ash. However, after four days buried beneath Mount Tarawera’s debris, he was unearthed alive!
Trout stream
Te Wairoa Waterfalls is about a 20 minute walk from the museum
small rapids below the falls
View of Lake Tarawera
Fern by Lake Tarawera
Taking a drive through the bush.
No wonder my rental agreement prohibited me from driving on unpaved roads! :-)
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