Rotorua Thermal Features March 27, 2011

This morning we went off to Wai-O-Tapu to see the geyser and other thermal features like those at Yellowstone. The geyser erupts every day at 10:15. I was amazed at that; better than Old Faithful. We arrived at the geyser and I was not surprised to see a small cone, seating auditorium style in close proximity to the geyser and a ranger type guy with a microphone. So the story goes, there was a prison camp nearby about a 100+ years ago and the prisoners discovered the hot bubbling water. They realized that they could wash their cloths without having to go to the trouble of heating water so they dumped some soap into the water and the result was a reaction and the geyser came to life. The guy with the microphone explained all this then dumped some less toxic soap like stuff into the cone and we had our eruption.

After that excitement we walked around the park and admired the mud pots, fumeroles, volcanic craters with all kinds of colors and the overwhelming smell of sulfur.

Leaving there we traveled back to Rotorua and visited the Rainbow Springs Kiwi Animal Park. We saw lots of rainbow trout, birds, some amphibians and the elusive kiwi. The kiwi were kept in a special habitat. You had to be quiet, use no flash or other photography and understand they were not active during the day. Despite all that, we did catch a glance of two of the critters, one asleep and the other foraging at the back of the habitat.