Back on the Thermal Explorer Highway today, for our short drive North to Rotorua.
We left our campsite in Taupo early, as we had to time a visit to the Wai-O-Tapu (Sacred Waters) Thermal Wonderland to arrive in time for the 10:15am Lady Knox geyser eruption.
Now this isn’t a natural eruption, as the guide poured organic soap into the top to create a chemical reaction and subsequently the explosion.
We then entered the main visitors centre and started our loop walk around the thermal area, which is covered with collapsed craters, cold and boiling pools of mud, water and steaming fumaroles. Below this whole area is a system of streams which are heated by magma left over from earlier eruptions.
The water is so hot (300 degrees) that it absorbs minerals out of the rocks through which it passes and transports them to the surface as steam where they are absorbed into the ground and give it the amazing colourations.
The Devil’s Home is a collapsed crater where underground acid has made the ground collapse. The cooling volcanic vapours have coloured the walls.
The impressive Artist’s Palette (photo above) contains water that overflows from the Champagne Pools. As it goes through this process it takes with it minerals that have originated from below the surface. As the water cools and minerals are exposed to the atmosphere they take on different colours.
The Alum Cliffs, which we are stood next to in the photo above are a spectrum of colours, and the crater opposite is a 700 year acidic lake, with bubbling mud pools.
The beautiful Oyster Pool (below) is a naturally sulphurous pool and has been named because of it’s distinctive shape.
The stunning Champagne pools (photos below) are the largest spring in the district, being 65m in diameter and 62 metres deep, with a surface temperature of 74 degrees.
The minerals that are contained in the water are gold, silver, mercury, sulphur, arsenic, thallium, and antimony, and are deposited in the sinter ledge – the peach coloured ledge around the rim.
By far the most amazing natural water colour was in the Devil’s Bath, where a yellowish green tint covered the entire crater bottom.
With the 25 sights covered we hit the road for the short hop into Rotorua, and checked into our cute log cabin at Rotorua Thermal Holiday Park.
We went for a wander around the centre of Rotorua, a place famous for being the most thermally active town in NZ. The distinct smell of rotten eggs (hydrogen sulphide) crept from every drain and crack in the pavement.
We have two whole days here to explore this exciting area!
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