Geyser, sulphur and mud pools

Day 165 – Rotorua, New Zealand

Rotorua sits on a diagonal line crossing the North Island drawn by the meeting of two tectonic plates, giving the region particular geothermic activity.

One such place is Wai-O-Tapu (Sacred Waters), where geysers, hot (boiling hot) springs, mud pools, bubbling pools can be seen.

Wai-O-Tapu – The artist’s palette

Since the place is half an hour’s drive South of the town, getting there by yourself is not that easy -but of course, tourists are not left to flounder. Several tours offer a shuttle-and-ticket combo, with a nice inflated price, but alas with a set leaving time.

By chance, when looking at Wai-O-Tapu’s website, I saw that it was loosely reachable by bus -the one I have a pass for. I say loosely, because they drop you off on the highway, level with the correct road to take. It’s just another 2 km to reach the visitor’s centre.

Wai-O-Tapu

So I armed myself with courage, patience, and a full backpack, and went on my way.

The first thing to see is the Lady Knox geyser, which if let to its own device will surge around every three days, without any set schedule. But fortunately, it can be “induced” by the judicious addition of soap (obviously, it is a fastidious geyser).

Apparently, the waters are refrained from surging forth by a tensile layer, which can be dissolved temporarily through a reaction with soap. A few minutes after the addition, Lady Knox obliges. So a nice employees comes every morning at the same time do a short presentation and pour soap in the geyser.

Wai-O-Tapu – Lady Knox Geyser

It lasted an hour, and I found the visitors’ dynamic interesting. There are rows of seats, like in an amphitheatre, which were full at the starting time. After 10 min or so, people started moving up to the barrier to take closer pictures, selfies, and so on, before leaving. After 30 min, I think only one third of the visitors were left. By the time the geyser stopped, we were less than 10 people.

I walked to the visitor centre, changed the voucher bought at the tourist information centre for a “real” ticket, and started on the walk around the pools. There are three loops in a row, and this way you can go from one to the next or limit yourself to only one or two.

Wai-O-Tapu – The Devil’s bath

I walked the whole way, with numerous fumeroles, the smell of sulphur, and the amazing colours of the different pools.

The park is known in particular for the Champagne Pool (see header), a pool with bubbling water and a red-ochre rim.

I’ve taken hundreds of pictures today, and sorting them out still yielded me a long selection. (I suspect that I have kept in it pictures quite similar.) You will find them in the gallery.

After leaving the thermal track, I had still to have a look at the mud pool, a bubbling pool of grey mud. It is on the way back to the highway, free to look at!

Wai-O-Tapu – Mud Pool

I was quite happy to sit for a long while to wait for the bus to come, I was starting to get really achy… and I guess tomorrow I’ll be stiff! I’m taking the bus again, this time to Taupo.