Wai-O-Tapu, Waimangu and Rotorua

We started off early that day, leaving Auckland early in the morning so that we could arrive before 10 am in Wai-O-Tapu to see the Lady Knox Geyser which erupts daily at 1015 am (with help of course).

Lady Knox Geyser *unprovoked*

We arrived on time to the visitor centre to purchase our tickets for the geyser and also for the thermal wonderland which cost NZD 55 per person. This also included the entrance fee for Waimangu Volcanic Valley.

Commentor and provoker
*see the froth building up?*

The weather was absolutely freezing that morning with drizzles throughout the whole morning. It was painful to be standing in the cold waiting for the show to start. But once it got rolling, it was good!! :)

Starting up

The story behind how the geyser was discovered was pretty interesting. According to the commentator, the 'hill' used to be of a small pond of some sort and workers around the area used to sit around it to have lunch and occasionally wash their utensils. One day, one of them accidentally dropped a soap into the water and then it began to froth and then erupted. Since then, it was 'christened' by a Lady Knox and has continued to be the star attraction in Wai-O-Tapu.

Full effect!

From there, we then drove back to the visitor centre to continue our visit of the thermal wonderland.

To be honest, I didn't actually enjoy this thermal wonderland as much as the next one. It felt too commercial and everything was rather bare, which I suppose may be what it was supposed to look like.... But still, the next thermal park that we went to was much prettier!

Anyway, we'll get to Waimangu later. Now, for some pictures in Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland (Only putting a couple, as the rest look.... uninteresting).

The Champagne Pool

This pool is the largest hot water spring in Wai-O-Tapu. It occupies a 7000 year old explosion crater which had formed from an eruption.

For those interested in the details

There are lots of craters in this wonderland that ranges from 5-50 metres in diameter and up to 20 metres in depth which are formed when surfaces collapse into ground forming the craters. They really just look like deep holes... like a well, but with smoke coming out.

The next picture is probably my favourite in this park. The Devil's Bath.

Isn't it just the most eye-catching pond?!?!
The green was actually quite fluorescent!

The Wai-O-Tapu Geothermal Wonderland opens from 830-500 pm, (last admission at 345pm). To get tickets for the Lady Knox Geyser, it is recommended that one arrives no later than 945 a.m eventhough it only erupts at 1015 as you need to drive from the visitor centre to the geyser (which is only about 5-7 minutes away).

Our next visit of the day was the Waimangu Volcanic Valley which is the world's newest geothermal system. There is a couple of walking tours and bus services in the valley itself which makes it quite convenient. The walking tours are generally about 1-2 hours each. We decided to walk on our own as we always do (so that we could skip all the uninteresting things :P).

We had a couple of highlighted must-see things in this valley and basically made our way there right away on supersonic speed.

Frying pan

This lake occupies 38,000 square metres making it the world's largest hot spring. The average lake temperature is about 50 celcius. Not somewhere I want to be in!

We then proceeded to our main destination - Inferno Crater

I was excited to get there as we were told that the lake may sometimes be bright blue in colour. But I also remembered being apprehensive about it as I wasn't sure if we were gonna be lucky enough to see it in its brilliant colour. The colour of the lake changes depending on the amount of activity it is undergoing. It can be of a dull grey colour (which I have seen enough!!) when the levels are low and then when it is in it's optimal state, the lake will assume a brillant skyblue colour.

And we were lucky!!!!!!

Look at that blueeeeeeee~~!
*It was worth all that leg cramp and SOBOE!*

The water temperature ranges between 35-75 celcius depending on the level of the lake. The water could also be very acidic at pH 2.8 at times.

After that, the two happy people from Melbourne left Waimangu with big smiles and headed off into Rotorua's town for a quick lunch before taking off for more touristy activities!

Rotorua Visitor Centre

Lunch @ Lime's

We were quite pushed for time as we had booked in to watch the sheep shearing show in Agrodome at 230 p.m and the restaurant was absolutely packed! The lovely waitress however was really kind and did try to warn us that they might not be able to serve us in time. But we decided that we really wanted to dine there and so we did. And they were so prompt with our orders and food, it was amazing! My lunch however wasn't, but K's was really quite good. Me and my poor choices. Who can I blame? :(

Meeting some friendly faces in Agrodome

We arrived at Agrodome on time and the place was absolutely packed with tourist. I had a sick feeling in my stomach that this might be a wrong choice of activity as it was probably gonna be a corny show. But I was so wrong! The show was amazing, the host were hilarious and the whole experience was far more enjoyable than I expected.

My favourite - the Merino
*love how his face seems to bury into his fur*

The performers

The entertainer

The show was for an hour and a bit and at the end of it, there's also a milking the cow demonstration, feeding the little lambies and a photo session for everyone.

Sleepy look

From there we then checked in to our hotels directly as we were both so exhausted from the day's activities. We stayed at Executive on Fenton's on the main street of the town, which was a fairly new motel. We had a really unpleasant time with the accommodation the next day *check next post for more*

Executive on Fenton's

Our room

The room was quite bare and had a small telly but the bathroom was great! The only thing that wasn't that wonderful was the smell of the water, or maybe the town. I don't know. All that sulphur in the air was starting to get to me. We had a quick rest before heading out to dinner/show/performance in Mitai Maori Village.

We booked in with Mitai Maori Village for their "Beauty by the night" which included Hangi ( a traditional ground cooked meal), a waka (warrior canoe), culture performance, glow worm walk and visit to the next door Kiwi conservative centre.

We arranged for a pickup from our accommodation which arrived pretty much on time. There was actually quite a few that was going to the same place.

Introducing us to Hangi

Hangi is the traditional cooking method by the Maori's where food is placed on the ground to be cooked. The process takes quite a few hours.

Sneak peek of what's coming! *yums*

We then started off the performances bit with the waka, which is a canoe performance where the warrior paddle along a river singing/performing a song. It was quite entertaining!

Waka

After the Waka we then headed off for a 45 - 60 mins performance of the local cultures, which was really good. For me anyway. Here's some pictures - check out their expression!

He looks scary!!

And now, some dances :

And now it's the girl's turn!
*The paintings on the face were really quite amazing*

Pictures just can't do justice to the show, so here's a video. I really enjoyed the energy from the performance.

And we were off to dinner...........

Dinner was buffet styled and the food was pretty good. And enough to go for seconds! It was yummsss...

And some local drinks to go with :)

And after that, we went for a walk in the area looking at glow worms and also to the kiwi conservation centre. Wasn't really my thing so there isn't much pictures to show. Plus, the kiwis were really hard to look for!

At the Kiwi Conservation Centre