January 25, 2019
We woke up to clouds and sprinkles. It had rained during the night. It was time to say goodbye to Rotorua, but we were not done with seeing thermal activity. Our destination today was the Orakei Korako Geothermal Park, about an hour drive from the cabin via the Te Kopia road. Afterwards to stay for the night, we would drive to Turangi via Huka Falls and the town of Taupo (estimated 1 hour 15 minutes drive time from Orakei Korako).
We checked out of the Rotorua Thermal Holiday Park and then drove south to the Te Kopia mudpots. This was a fun little walk right next to the road. It was a nice group of mudpots with nobody else round.
Then it was on to Orakei Korako. The weather was still cloudy but it had stopped raining. At the entrance we were informed that the ticket was good for only one round trip boat ride across the river, and that there were no bathrooms on the other side. This was a bit concerning to me since we had intended to stay the entire day.
There were only a few other tourists there, so in the morning we pretty much had the entire place to ourselves. By late morning the clouds cleared and we had a nice sunny afternoon.
Highlights were Cascade Geyser, Sapphire Geyser, and a new geyser with 3 craters that broke out near the Golden Fleece terrace. We saw the right crater vent erupt in the morning, and the left crater with two vents in full eruption in early afternoon. We did not get a closed interval. In the Artists Palette area we saw eruptions of Psyche's Bath, #742 Square Spring, #764, #772, #783, #786, #787, and #812 which is a continuous spouter at the base of the Pyramid of Geysers.
We left at about 3:30 PM and drove to Huka Falls. This was billed as the most popular waterfall in New Zealand, but since we arrived late afternoon it was not too crowded. The best view point was down a trail on the same side of the river as the car park.
Then we drove to Turangi. This drive was really slow. Google Maps routed us through the town of Taupo which seemed like a big tourist trap. I was not impressed. On the main highway south of town there had been a big car accident which delayed us by a half hour. If we had to do it over again, we would have backtracked from Huka Falls to Wairakei and taken Highway 1 south to avoid Taupo.
Near Turangi we stopped to visit the Tokaanu Hot Springs. There were paid hot springs but also a free 20-minute walk around a couple of mudpots and hot springs. At the end of the walk was a geyser that supposedly erupted every few minutes, but it did nothing while we were there.
Then we drove to our place to stay for the night, Moe Marie Sleep Peacefully B and B. It was a very nice place, a small quiet cottage in a residential area. A cat invited itself into the room to keep us company. I would stay there again. We had a microwave oven and very small refrigerator stocked with continental breakfast supplies.
The freezer compartment was too small to store our cooler ice blocks, so we quickly drove into town to buy ice and some dinner supplies. Dinner was baked potatoes with ham, bacon, red pepper and sour cream.
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