January 23, 2019
It was a 20-minute drive from our cabin to Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland, and we arrived in time for their opening at 8:30. Heinrich did the driving. It was good practice for him to drive on the left, and the roads were nice and wide. The weather in the morning was cool and cloudy, but by late morning the clouds cleared and it was sunny for the rest of the day.
The first stop was the mud pool located about a mile from the Wai-O-Tapu entrance. This was a very nice mudpot and can be viewed for free. Nobody else was there.
We spent the next hour seeing the various craters and springs. Champagne Pool was very colorful, like a smaller version of Grand Prismatic Spring. Devil's Bath was also beautiful with an intense green color.
Then it was on to see the scheduled eruption of Lady Knox Geyser at 10:15. We got there early enough to get front row seats for the spectacle. On cue, the park employee gave a little speech and dumped the bag of soap into the vent. After a couple of minutes the globs of soap started pouring out and then the geyser was in full eruption. After a few minutes the soap was no longer visible. Many folks left after only a few minutes. After a half hour there were only a few people that remained. We did not stay until the end (the geyser erupts for 1 to 2 hours).
Apparently the geyser can still erupt naturally if it were left alone, once every few days.
In the afternoon we finished walking the remaining trails. It was much more crowded then due to everyone else on the trail that had been at Lady Knox.
We found Waiotapu Geyser. The crater was slowly filling with water and bubbling periodically. We decided to wait for the eruption. We spent the next 1.5 hours watching the crater fill with increased boiling. Finally we were rewarded with the eruption! One vigorous splash hit me on my arm. The water was still hot and it was close to getting a burn.
On the way out we stopped at the gift shop where I bought a Champagne Pool magnet.
On the way back to Rotorua I wanted to stop at Rainbow Mountain, but the location was incorrect in Google Maps and we did not find the car park. Instead we decided to hike a trail that took us to an overlook of Pohutu Geyser! The trail was at the mountain bike car park just outside of Rotorua. It climbed through a gorgeous fern and spruce forest. At the overlook we could see Pohutu was in eruption. It was also a great view of downtown Rotorua and the lake.
Back at our cabin we spent a relaxing evening, did laundry, and cooked a potatoes and egg dinner.
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