"It's good for your skin"!

We headed down the road to try and find our next hot spot, and ended up at the Wai-O-Tapu "Thermal Wonderland". Our first sighting was a wonderful sign that simply said mud pools, so off we went. The short road led to a steaming hot pool, again live with the wisps of steam and a strong odour of sulphur. The water was near boiling so despite its appearance of an inviting spa, especially after our cold night, I held Mary-Ellen back from jumping in. The silica clay mud was bubbling and belching from the pool, leaving a splattering of mud along the edges and surface of the pool.

This primordial ooze was truly spectacular to watch as it spewed out of the ground often being shot into the air in what seemed to be a rhythmic pattern with one another, until one spot would just start exploding uncontrollably with no discernible pattern, but phenomenal results! We certainly didn't get in, but along the way we did pick up some packaged mud for Mary-Ellen to try, likely from a similar source in the area, as grey as the mud we saw!

And yes, I know the video is sideways. Lesson learned.

The Volcanic Valley

A bit delayed, but I will try and get through as much as possible before something else comes up! This is the continuation of our journey through the volcanic valley! As we last left our adventurers, they were up from a chilly morning, had breakfast, packed up and headed for the Waimangu volcanic valley. After picking up a hot drink to warm Mary-Ellen up, we started down the path that would take us through unique geological formations and activities, and were greeted by this wonderful carving.

From this vantage point, we could see all of the valley, lots of hills leading to Lake Rotomahana, and Tarawera Mountian which last erupted in 1886 creating much of the geological wonders that we would soon see. Despite the destruction of all life in the area, over the last hundred years, a dense jungle of beautiful foliage has grown to fill the valley we see today. Closer to us, along the path we would soon take, we could also see hints of the coming hot springs and geysers as steam billowed above the canopy.

There were many sites to see along this path, the first of which was Frying Pan Lake, a body of water bordered by steaming rocks of sulphur and silica, and the entire lake was covered in swirling wisps of steam and a strong hint of sulphur in the air. Water deep below the surface of the earth is super heated by magma close to the earth's surface, and this water dissolves away minerals in the ground (such as sulphur) and forces it's way through the earth's surface eventually depositing those minerals, and leaving the entire area with a smell of rotten eggs.

The water from Frying Pan Lake and other springs lead down a river that seemed devoid of life, and yet there were flies likely getting minerals from the waters edge and microbes growing in thick mattes in certain areas. The river side was dotted with hissing holes in the ground, sending small spurts of water up from the ground and billowing clouds of lovely steam and hydrogen sulphide. The smell was quite bad, but the sites were worth it!

The path diverted away from the stream and up to a large crater. Along the way we could see signs of what appeared to be a dried up stream, ceased long ago due to a change on geothermal activity. This was not entirely correct. The beautiful body of water in Inferno Crater was a light blue, somewhat reminiscent of the the glacial lakes of the rocky mountains. Unlike those lakes though, you would not dare get in this water, as the colouration was not due to dissolved minerals created by the friction of a glacier scraping bedrock, but from the dissolved silica that the water accumulates. It can also be 80 degrees Celsius and a pH of 2.1. The water goes through a rhythmic cycling of low water, slowly raising 6 metres till it eventually overflows down the seemingly dried up stream before receding down to a low level again. We were fortunate to see it at the point where it is a brilliant sky blue rather than it's usual grey colouration.

 Then we got our exercise as we hiked over Mt Haszard, to finally be reunited with the stream. This lead to yet another amazing geological formation, the Marble Terrace and Buttresses, formed by silica depositing from water running over the land and then over the deposits. This forms a huge layer of rock, covered by water that seems to continually deposit and build these structures.

Then, after water and coffee, we made a pit stop at the Warbrick Terrace where this unusual stream had formed a pool by depositions at the edge eventually building up to dam the stream.

After some animal cookies and some more water, we moved on, although this would be essentially the last big active geothermal sites. We wandered through the grass till we reached the lakeside, where we were pleasantly surprised to find numerous waterfowl, including the beautiful black swans.

We enjoyed watching the birds for a while, got a good look at the sleeping giant across the lake that had brought about the wondrous sights we had just seen, and hoped on the bus back to the top of the valley. We grabbed some peanut butter sandwiches before heading on to our next adventure.

Our Geothermal Activities

Over the break we were unfortunately inundated with work so we had a far smaller window of opportunity to get away. We decided to pack up the tent and some warm clothes and head south to an area known as Rotorua, famous for its geothermal hot spots, areas where magma are closer to the surface of the crust and the heat they transmit can be seen on the earth's surface in a number of dramatic and spectacular ways. We had seen steam rising from the mountains in Tongariro National Park, but this time our aim was to get up close and person to see something we can't easily (if at all) see in Canada. Our trip took us late into the day, and our first experience was downtown Rotorua where there are vents sending sulfuric gases into the air around the city, leaving many of the areas with a faint hint of rotten eggs. Knowing there were several campgrounds in many directions, we picked one and headed out. Unfortunately, again, things were not terribly well marked, and I got a little lost. After a bit of back-tracking, we did eventually stumble upon the campground we had first planned. In the headlights of the car, I set up the tent while Mary-Ellen warmed up the chili on the trunk of the car. Tired, we packed it in early (8 pm) and huddled into our sleeping bags.

Since the campground had been in complete darkness when we arrived, we awoke the next morning to a whole new view we never knew was there. Our campsite was situated on the bank of a lake, still misty in the cool morning air. A grove of trees lined the barrier between the campground and a farm, giving a bit of illusion that you were in the wilderness. The lake was dead calm, and the bottom was lined with volcanic rock and ash.

We enjoyed the serene view, the quiet only broken by the numerous songbirds and waterfowl in the area. After some breakfast and a warm drink in our makeshift camp, we packed up and headed out to see what other wonders lay hidden in this spectacular part of the country.