May 20, 2014

May 20, 2014

Today we started on our way to Wellington. Our first stop was 20 minutes outside of Rotorua at the Wai-o-topo Thermal Wonderland. We hiked around lots of geothermal activity. We saw lots of sulfur and mineral deposits, geothermal vents, bubbling mud and clay, and more. One of the craters was filled with green water. There was a lot of fog/steam because it was so cold in the morning and the vents and water were so hot. We said it seemed like we were walking on a planet in outer space because of the rocky, barren landscape and the foggy steam that made it difficult to see. 

 

We went to a geyser that erupted at 10:15am every day. No one mentioned that they make the geyser erupt by putting a soap like material into the hole of the geyser to break the surface tension of the cooler water on top that lets the hot water come up. If they didn’t do this, the geyser would only erupt every 2-3 days. Seemed like a tourist trap in our book. 

After this we went to the mud pools. This was really cool. The mud bubbled up like it was in a cauldron all over this lake. My favorite part was the clay near the edges of the pool that bubbled up in concentric circles and made rings upon rings in the mud. 

 

Then we drove a short distance to Huka Falls to see the blue-green waterfall. It was a short waterfall, but very pretty. 

Next stop was Lake Taupo. We ate our lunch in the van looking out over the lake, which made for a picturesque stop. We also frequented the self-proclaimed “World’s Coolest McDonald’s”. We had to stop there after we drove past it and saw a huge DC-3 airplane painted with the McDonald’s name sitting high above the play area. You could actually eat in the plane if you so desired. We didn't purchase anything there, but we did check out the play area for a few minutes. 

We drove 6 hours to Wellington. Our GPS system took us on a very precarious route up a steep mountain in the dark upon our arrival into the suburbs of Wellington. It was a white knuckle drive!