Wai-o-Tapu

The Rotorua area of New Zealand is a geological thermal zone. Parts of town have steam rising from the ground and there are kilometres of pipes above the ground that somehow carry the geothermal energy to power stations.

Chantal and I decided to go on a morning tour of Wai-o-Tapu, which means "Sacred Waters". It is a reserve area that is full of a weird assortment of hot spots that reminded me of Yellowstone National Park. We started at the boiling mud pools, which were similar to the 'paint pots' in Yellowstone. It was really cool to see the ground bubble and boil like that. Next, we headed to see the Lady Knox Geyser. The geyser goes off every day at 10:15 AM, which would be exciting, except I've seen Old Faithful in Yellowstone before, and that has a naturally occurring eruption. Lady Knox has a triggered eruption that goes off with the aid of soap, which acts as a surfactant so they can always decide when the geyser will go off. Still, it's pretty amazing to see water (somewhat) naturally gush up against gravity, and it was cool to hear the history of how the geyser was discovered (some prisoners working in the area came for a bath and their soap made the water shoot up).

After Lady Knox, we continued on to the reserve itself, which was well worth the price of admission. It had bright green sulphur lakes, a "Champagne Pool" that had a sitting temperature above boiling that resulted in endless steam rolling off the pool, random little holes filled with bubbling water that looked like they would be perfect for a Kraft Dinner commercial, and it was all surrounded by a fantastic forest area that seemed like a mix between Jurassic Park and a world that Dr Seuss created. Near the end of the reserve, we followed a trail that led out of the geothermal area and ended at a waterfall that emptied into a huge, beautiful lake looking out at the rolling hills around the area. Such a beautiful way to spend our morning.