Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland

Greetings my beloved blog followers. The adventures continue. These adventures are similar to those carved into the history books by Columbus, Magellan, and the Power Rangers. It is true that these brave men endured dangerous, stormy seas, blood thirsty natives, and fake pyrotechnics of arm-flailing men in alien costumes. But none of these explorers ever experienced the breath-taking sights of the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland.


Marvel as the yellow traffic jacket-wearing man pours soap in the Lady Geyser to induce an eruption... right before your very eyes! Old Faithful has nothing on this beauty. Not only does Lady erupt at 10:15, daily, but she is also squeaky clean doing it.


We were so disappointed that the geyser didn't erupt naturally, that we left before it was even done erupting.


These are the bubbling mud pools. The geothermal activity under the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland boils water suspended in the ground, and forces it through vents. In this case, the vents were located under a bunch of mud. I enjoyed the sound of the bubbling mud pools; they reminded me of a delicious spaghetti sauce simmering on the stove top allowing all the flavors and aromas to blend together. In this case, the aroma was sulfurous rotten eggs.


These holes were once caves dug out by the water flowing up from the thermal fissures. Eventually, the cave ceiling fell in leaving this hole. The yellow color comes form the sulfur. People from India do NOT like sulfur smells.


This is the Champagne Pool. The orange color comes from antimony oxide that comes out of the ground for some reason.


Here is more of that orange color. The green comes from colloidal sulfur. The earth must really smell bad deep under ground!!!


All around the wonderland was this moss. It is apparently supposed to be green, but it absorbs the chemicals from the air and surfaces and turns orange. It covers rocks, trees, and shrubs. It was really pretty.


Here we are standing in front of a sulfury water fall. The people who took this picture were from the States and were excited to hear we were too... except Sarah was insulted that they thought she was from the States. She is actually from Canada: America's hat.



After the Thermal Wonderland, it started to rain and rain and rain... so we needed to find something fun to do to stay warm and... wet? So we decided to go to the Hell's Gate and Wai Ora Spa where they let you bathe in mud. This is my impression of Swamp Thing. No wait! This is my impression of Arnold Schwarzenegger in Predator when he covers himself in mud and the Predator can't see him. That part was soooooo scary!!!! After the mud bath, you take a FREEZING shower, which was even more fun since it was outside in the rain. The shower was colder than the air!



Then we bathed in the sulfur spa. I'm not sure if I will ever stop smelling like sulfur after this.

Ta ta for now :)