March 2, 2026
The temperature was cold when we woke up, and snow had been predicted on the mountain peaks for today. The view outside of our room showed partly cloudy skies except for over the mountains which were hidden as usual.
We had the breakfast buffet at the lodge, which was very good, and then we packed up to leave for Rotorua. On the way out of the park we stopped to take the short Mounds Walk which had a nice view of the cloud covered mountains. We could see some bad weather in the distance, and there was a little rainbow at the viewing point at the end of the trail.
Next we drove back to Tokaanu to see if anything had changed in the thermal area. We did see a new sputtering cone near the entrance that we hadn't noticed before. Otherwise, Taumatapuhipuhi and Hoani geysers were still quiet.
For further details at Tokaanu please visit Heinrich's thermal observations for March 2.
We stopped in Turangi for a gas fill up, and then we continued the drive north, following the shore of Lake Taupo. We stopped at a roadside viewpoint of the lake.
North of the town of Taupo, we stopped to see the Aratiatia Rapids. Four times a day in the summer there are scheduled water releases from the dam, creating a massive flood of water down the Waikato River. We were there for the 2 PM release. We decided to walk to the upper viewing point where we had a view of the flood gates and the river below. It was interesting to see the rush of water coming down and filling up consecutive pools before flooding further down river.
Our final stop on the way to Rotorua was the Waiotapu mud pots which were putting on a very good display this year.
We drove on to Rotorua and checked into our lodging for the next week at the Geyser Lookout B&B. We had stayed there on our previous visit in 2023 and really liked it. The back yard has a hot tub where we can see the stream rising from the nearby geyser area at Te Puia. The owners Shami and Dave remembered us. For this visit we had the larger room with a small kitchen shared with one other room. We fixed our egg and potato dinner and then relaxed for the rest of the evening.