Rotorua - Geothermal-tastic ~ Derek's Travels

Out of Tongariro, I was soon passing through the logging forests of the area before finding the road on a bluff overlooking the valley and large lake of the Taupo region. The road along Lake Taupo is a beautiful stretch that hugs the massive, peaceful lake before entering the town of the same name. I stopped again at Huka Falls, a powerful waterfall created when the river narrows from a wide, slow body of water into a small chasm just a few meters wide. The blueish water rushes through the thin walls of the stretch, spilling out into the falls and the awaiting pool ten meters below. The falls are also quite tourist-friendly, so I was able to make a quick stop, walk to the falls and back, and then get on the way to Rotorua, still early that morning. After reading some reviews and recommendations, I decided that I wanted to visit Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland, and one of their geysers erupts promptly at 10:15 am every day, so I was hoping to make it in time. Initially, I didn't think I had a chance to make it, kicking myself for sleeping in at the campsite instead of getting an earlier start. Passing through Taupo, I recalculated some of the travel times, and I realized it could be close, but I still didn't think I had a chance. Without a radio station most of the time, a lot of my thoughts seem to linger in my head, such as the phrase that I'm not going to make it, which soon morphed into my own personal version of Twisted Sister's song "You're Not Gonna Make It." As I sped along the road, singing the song in my head, I made a few nice passes of some of the logging trucks and slow movers, creating a bit of excitement on the road, but nothing too close. I was making great time, and the song soon changed to "You're Gonna Make It. Yes, You're Gonna Make It." I got to the turnoff for the geothermal park around 10 am, and I ran down to the entrance where I was informed that the geyser isn't actually within the park, but I quickly got my ticket, and I made it down the road to the geyser with a comforting four minutes to spare.

The Lady Knox Geyser is a small mound surrounded by an amphitheater of bleacher type seating creating a half circle around the geyser. The place was almost completely full, but I found an opening in the very front row, as I think a few other visitors thought it might be reserved seating. One of the park rangers came down and spoke about the history of the geyser just before it was scheduled to erupt. Apparently some prisoners on work duty in the isolated area found a nice hot spring in which to wash their clothes, and after a few days, they started to use this as their primary washing spot. Unbeknownst to them, the soap that they were using naturally separated the cold water from the top of the pool, releasing the trapped hot water below and sending it, along with their clothes, shooting high up into the air. Today the rangers still use a biodegradable soap to trigger the geyser, so he dropped a few slices of the soap into the two foot high mound/cone that stood around a few whitewashed rocks and the surrounding forest. Within a minute, the cone started bubbling, slowly at first with frothy water, then it started to become more fierce, and soon the water was shooting straight up in a stream about a foot wide and 40 or 50 feet high. The steaming water continued to pour out of the ground below and rain back down onto the landscape, just in front of the entranced visitors. Slowly, people began to get up and take pictures next to the geyser, and people started leaving one by one as they'd seen enough, but I remained in my seat, amazed at the power and duration of this geyser. The water continued strong for about 35 minutes before it slowed down almost back to the top of the cone, but it then had a few more bursts for the next 15 or so minutes before the water gave way to steam and small bubbles from below, and the geyser settled down for the day. Of course, my obligatory sour worms also enjoyed the show along with me, though some of them didn't last as long as the show.

I headed back down to the park to see what else the area had to offer. A few walking loops around the park revealed some interesting geothermal landscapes with some boiling water and mud pots, steaming vents and caves into the ground covered with a chalky yellow or white coating, some native forest, a few hardened water flows full of the minerals that give the area the bright colors, and the highlight of the park, the Champagne Pool. The Champagne Pool is a small lake of 76 C degree (169 F) water shrouded by steam, with a dusty white rim, bright orange shelves just below the water around the rim, and a deeper blue in the center, creating a brilliant contrast when the wind blows the steam away, revealing the surreal views. The whole area is almost unnatural with colors ranging from red, yellow, black and white on the rocks and dirt around the vents resulting from different minerals and strange yellows and greens in the pools of water around the park. Of course, the entire area emanates the pungent smell of sulfur, which you can somewhat get used to, but you hope that your clothes don't remind you later on of where you've been. This park is said to be the most scenic, varied and colorful display of the features of this highly active geothermic region, and it didn't disappoint.

My next stop was the town of Rotorua, and I decided that I'd see the super-touristy, yet entertaining, Agrodome. The Agrodome specializes in presenting the authentic NZ experience and culture in a completely unauthentic way. I signed up for the afternoon show, and I again made it just in time, so my timing for the day was working out quite well. I entered a huge circular room with wooden pews through the middle up to the stage that stood front and center. Around the edges of the stage were about 20 sheep of various sizes and breeds, just on the edge of the seats, set up perfectly for pictures and annoying pokes and jabs before the start of the show. I joined in and got right in the face of a few of them before taking pictures for others, in which one of the sheep started nibbling on a Japanese guy's jacket while I took the picture. The show started, and the hordes of Asian visitors listened intently on their earphones that featured translations of the emcee's somewhat humorous spiel. He first introduced each breed of sheep, as they climbed up on to the stage and their appropriate spot on a two tiered pyramid display, showing the name of the breed and staging them in perfect order. There were long haired sheep, short haired, black, white, with horns, with curled horns, without horns, with braided hair, and everything in between. During the show one of the sheep became a bit unruly and attempted to headbutt the speaker a few times as he pushed it away as it tried to eat the food from the others, but the chain kept the speaker just out of reach of the annoyed animal. Headbutty eventually gave up and sat down while the speech continued unabated. He then brought out another individual sheep and showed us how to shear a sheep, shaving it down to half of its apparent size while carefully managing not to cut the sensitive skin of the sheep by holding it on its back, between his legs. Then he brought a few country kids up on stage and pretended to give them free haircuts with the shearer, much to the surprise of one of them who felt his hair afterwards to make sure the budding mullet was still intact. Then, a few of the participants were asked on stage to milk a true dairy cow, along with a few jokes and some innuendo. The next gig was a "real" sheep auction in which the speaker shouted out calls and took bids from the audience for anything from raising your hand to picking your nose. A Korean woman that spoke very, very little English "won" the auction, and of course predictable hilarity ensued as they tried to communicate to her that she actually had to pay the $600 and take the sheep home with her. He finally gave up on the gag, and the show ended with a demonstration of some of the types of sheep dogs. Three types came up on stage, two barking and one just staring down the sheep, controlling them without making a sound. The dogs ran back and forth through the arena and even jumped up on the backs of the sheep and climbed the pyramid and back down a few times. We then proceeded outside to see his Strong Eye dog (a NZ specialty breed of dog trained not to bark) round up a group of sheep by listening to his instructions and whistles and herding them by just looking at them and circling around back and forth to guide them where he wanted them to go. The show was, as predicted, a bit cheesy, but a great way to get a close up view of usually wary sheep. On the way out, I saw the hill in which the Zorb operates - a huge soft plastic ball that rolls down a gentle, grassy hill with a person or two in the smaller, clear circle inside the outer ball. This is basically like a human hamster ball, and it looked interesting, but it would be over quite quickly and didn't seem to be worth the money.

Being late evening, I was ready for dinner, so I made the tough choice between an adjoining Thai and Indian restaurant. As it turns out, I think I made the right decision and had an incredible Indian dinner, complete with curry, rice and naan (bread). Each and every flavour of the meal was excellent, and I was completely stuffed after finishing the last remaining crumb that graced my plate. By now, the sun had set and darkness was upon me, so I set off to find a place to camp for the night, hoping that the road around the North side of the lake would be as isolated as it looked on the map, providing a nice, quiet place to stay, out of the way of the tourists and residents alike. I headed up the road, but my weak headlights and the lack of any sort of street lights made it hard to find any suitable looking locations. I avoided a few cars that tailgated me as I looked for a little pullout in the most random of places as the road wound along the hill and lake below. Eventually, nearing the top of one of the larger hills, I knew there would be at least a little pullout (as there always is when they cut these roads into the sides of the hills), and I found a semblance of what I was looking for. One of the road posts that was supposed to keep people on the road had been run over a few times, allowing me to enter the small grassy arc on the inside of the turn. Being almost pitch black, I couldn't really tell what I was driving into, but it looked good enough, especially considering my other options. The grassy patch felt stable enough, so I pulled forwards and back, trying to find a somewhat flat spot to stay for the night. I reduced the slant as much as possible by parking with the wheels on a tiny little mound that I had felt, and then I climbed through the middle seat and bars into the back, not wanting to step outside in what could be mud, water or anything else. It wasn't quite comfortable having to sleep pushed up into the back corner of the van due to the angle, but it wasn't too bad, and I woke up to a decent view of Rotorua across the lake from me. Another nice breakfast of Coco Krispies and Muesli ensued, and then I was off, making a brief stop at a town on the way called Okere Falls. I figured if the town was named after a waterfall, and with my affinity for them, I should at least stop and see what all the fuss is about. A short walk through the green bush led me to a few different waterfalls - pleasant, but definitely not warranting a trip to the town just to see them. Soon, I was back on the road, heading North through kiwi fruit country, including Te Puke, the kiwi fruit capital of the world, or so they claim. Driving through the town, with my wandering, radio-less mind, I keep thinking of the classic Deep Thought by Jack Handy where he says "Marta was offended that I used the word puke. But to me, that's what her dinner tasted like." (or something to that effect)