240 km (144 miles) 3.5 very rainy hours.
I guess a transit day is a good day for rain, but it really came down. The roads are good; Drivers are considerate. The rental car didn’t come with the GPS as requested, but we easily made do with Google maps. The drive was largely pastoral, with some cool geologic features that must have been old small volcanic cones. An occasional fumarole steamed from a hillside.
As we neared Rotorua, we could smell sulfur. Our hotel room overlooked a literal hotbed of activity.
This thermal area is part of Te Puia, a Maori cultural site we visited late in the afternoon. In addition to the geothermal highlights, they operate a kiwi breeding center, offer a traditional steam-vent cooked buffet, and have traditional Maori cultural performances in a marae, or tribal gathering place.
The endangered kiwi are housed in sound-proofed, light controlled enclosures. The light cycle is reversed so that the nocturnal, poor-sighted (but excellent hearing) birds are active during visiting hours instead of nesting in their burrows. We saw one of the pear-shaped little guys digging around in the dusky light - but alas, no photos allowed. They live around 25 years in the wild, and can more than double that in captivity. They are about 18 inches tall, and weigh up to 7.5 lb. Their eggs are huge for their size, 15-25% of the weight of the female. (An ostrich egg, by comparison, is only 2% of the adult female.) Unlike most birds, they don’t have hollow bones and can’t fly. The survival rate for chicks hatched and released from Te Puia is several fold of that in the wild.
This mud pot, the largest in Te Puia, was pretty slurpy due to all of the rain today. It gets thick when conditions are dry. The mud is 70-85 degrees C (158-185 F) and 6-10 meters (20-32 ft) deep.
There are a group of 6 geysers connected to a common fissure on the Te Whakarewarewa geyser terrace. One, Prince of Wales Feathers geyser, is called an indicator geyser because its eruption is strongly correlated with the much taller Pohutu geyser it abuts. Pohutu, up to 100 ft tall, is the largest active geyser in the southern hemisphere. After a prolonged and slowly intensifying Prince of Wales eruption, Pohutu joins in and the two geysers run in tandem for up to 30 minutes.
Prince of Wales starting to get worked up.
Prince of Wales still chugging away to the left, under the shadow of the Pohutu geyser.
Te Paia is the home of the New Zealand Maori Art and Crafts Institue. Founded in the 1920s, the three year program promotes preservation of traditional culture. Students are trained in carving and weaving from masters who trained at the school themselves.
We enjoyed our first half day in Rotorua, even though half of the Te Puia activities were more performance driven than we prefer.
We enjoyed our first half day in Rotorua, even though half of the Te Puia activities were more performance driven than we prefer.
But our second day - awesome! We drove 1/2 hour to the world’s youngest geothermal valley. The area was originally known for its Pink and White Terraces, which were New Zealand’s most famous tourist attraction in the middle 1800s. Formed by geothermal springs like Yellowstone’s Mammoth Hot Springs, they were believed to be the world’s largest silica sinter deposits.
Painting of the Pink Springs.
Everything blew apart on Jun 10, 1886 when a line of craters were formed by violent eruptions and the Pink and White Springs were broken and buried under ash and water. Locals woke to lightning, earthquakes, molten rock fountains and 6-mile high columns of smoke and ash. All plant, bird, and animal life in the areas visible in these photos was destroyed. Three Maori villages were buried, and 120 people died.
Today this area is known as the Waimangu Volcanic Valley, a still active area full of fumeroles, hot springs, geysers, prismatic pools, etc. We took the self-guided trail from the visitors center to Lake Rotomahana (which exploded to 20 times its original size following the 1886 event), and then a boat ride across the lake to visit geothermal features along its shore. The valley is lightly visited, and full of one-of-a-kind features. We really enjoyed ourselves here.
Frying Pan Lake, the world’s largest hot spring. The mist was mesmerizing, swirling slowly in changing patterns across the water.
Hot Water Creek is the spillover from Frying Pan Lake, with a temp of 50 C (122 F), perfect for colorful algae.
Inferno Crater Lake is a one-of-a-kind cryptic geyser and the largest geyser-like feature in the world. The actual geyser is underwater at the bottom of the lake. The blue pool follows a complicated cycle of filling, overflow and dropping over several weeks, with the level varying up to 39 feet. The lake is highly acidic. A suspension of fine silica particles gives the lake its aqua color.
Inferno Crater Lake is a one-of-a-kind cryptic geyser and the largest geyser-like feature in the world. The actual geyser is underwater at the bottom of the lake. The blue pool follows a complicated cycle of filling, overflow and dropping over several weeks, with the level varying up to 39 feet. The lake is highly acidic. A suspension of fine silica particles gives the lake its aqua color.
From 1900-1904, the largest geyser ever recorded was active along our trail. The Black Water geyser erupted every 5 or 6 hours, throwing water, mud and rocks up to an astonishing 450 m into the air. For scale, the Empire State Building, including the spire and antenna, is 443 m. Historic photos show a wide, messy black spew that looks more like an explosion than a geyser.
Bird’s Nest Terrace, tiny and delicate. Variations in water temperature support different color algae.
The last km of the trail bordered wetlands, leading to Lake Rotomahana where we took a short boat ride.
The last km of the trail bordered wetlands, leading to Lake Rotomahana where we took a short boat ride.
Family of black swans, unperturbed by our quiet presence. The cygnet and mom were scooping up algae.
This little geyser at the edge of the lake erupts like clockwork every 10 minutes. I asked its name, and was told it had only appeared a few months ago and was unnamed.
These fumeroles and springs bubbled along on the lake’s edge.
A shuttle bus carried us back to the visitors’ center, where we picked up the car to return to Rotorua. After a late lunch at The Pig Whistle in town (slow cooked NZ lamb on a quinoa Mediterranean salad), Greg picked up a cache and we headed onwards.
The Redwoods is a 15 acre grove of California redwoods that was planted in 1901. They seem to thrive here, as today they’re about 200 ft tall. The redwood sequoias in California grow to 350 ft. tall, but have decidedly thicker trunks. We walked a two-mile trail (there are several options) through the trees. At least two providers offer elevated suspension bridge trails through the trees, but we decided to stay at ground level.
The silver fern is a tree fern found only in New Zealand. It’s a symbol of the country, and can be seen on everything from tea towels to t-shirts to tumblers. They can grow to 33 feet or higher, looking like an elegant shade umbrella. The undersides are usually white or silver, and were useful in navigating pathways at night because they reflect moonlight.
We were walked-out after this, so headed back to the hotel to hang out the rest of the evening.
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