We love the North Island. Yesterday we went to a place called Craters of the Moon, a simple but nice start to the thermal areas that you find in this region. Lots of steam rising from the ground and a small mud pool. Little did we know what lay in store for us as we went to Huka Falls and then the largest thermal areas in New Zealand.
Huka Falls is this cascading torrent of steel blue water forced through a narrow rock pass from a large lake above. The result is a spectacular and terrifying spectacle as we witnessed 200,000 litres of water flow over the falls every second. I know that it rains on the just and the unjust but God really answered our prayers as the heavy rain broke for us each time we ventured from the car.
Finally for yesterday we took a boat across a river to Orakei Korako a thermal valley also known as the hidden valley and as a result almost free from tourists. There we saw some incredible lava flows, silicia terraces, mud pools, geysers, craters and lots of steam. It really was very cool and we thoroughly enjoyed it.
Today we traveled early to Rotorua the capital of thermal areas in New Zealand and went to Waiotapu Thermal Wonderland. There we say truly incredible rock formations, more lava flows and a champagne lake, which is 60m wide and 60m deep. It contains arsenic, sulphur and iron compounds. It bubbles with carbon dioxide at about 74oC, dangerous but beautiful. The mud pools we saw today were so active and one or two drops were close to hitting us on occasion.
The geyser behind our accommodation erupts every day around 20 times and shoots 30-40 feet in the air. In our accommodation the whole building shakes every time the thermal air moves underground, a bit disturbing really. Tomorrow we travel to Auckland for our final 2 days in New Zealand, it’s been great but too short, will have to come back we recon. That’s all the news for now talk soon.
P.S Hawaii here we come.
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