Proud volcanoes spat lava and fire and anger and one wonders in awe how from such a turbulent past such serene beauty is born. Visiting geo thermal parks in New Zealand was a very enriching and spiritual experience for me. People from all over the world come to New Zealand to take part in the most adventurous activities that this wonderful land has to offer, especially water sports. While New Zealand does offer that solace to adrenaline junkies, few know that visiting this island beauty can also bring that peace of mind and soulfulness into one's life that most everyone is searching and that you can find it right in the heart of North Island. Geothermal valleys whilst showing you the magnitude of destruction that can happen on this earth, also shows you how life originates and evolves and grows and gets nurtured. In the next few minutes I'm going to talk about that and you are going to see some of nature's best kept secrets.
Waimangu Valley
Website -> https://www.waimangu.co.nz/
This geothermal valley is the youngest geo thermal valley in the world, formed circa 1886. The walk over here ranges from anywhere between 1.5 to 4.5 km. Just walking in here gives you surreal feels. As you walk along and are greeted with well unfortunately a stench, you come across this amazing geothermal lake, which is the most surreal place ever on earth. There is smoke coming out of the lake, it feels like the whole lake is breathing and living. What you see below in the photos is not fog, it is smoke from the hydro thermic activity that is happening in the lake bed (If that is the right term). There are crevices and holes in the mountains where you can see smoke emitting, it feels very spiritual to take a walk here. I could really feel God's presence in these mountains.
And then comes the Inferno lake... oh my! The hues of this lake! This is a large hot spring and silica suspended in the water gives it this rich sapphire blue colour. White silica deposits grow up to the overflow level, and the lake's colour is a result of finely divided silica suspended in the water. At low water levels the lake can be a dull grey colour, changing to an intensely sky blue colour at higher lake levels, in particular after the overflow stage.
You just have to visit this place to feel the magic and spirit that this place offers.
Volcanic lake, emitting smoke
Geothermal springs & Inferno lake
The volcanic deposits
Small springs that can be seen near the lake Rotomahana
Waiotapu Thermal Wonderland
Website -> https://www.waiotapu.co.nz/
This really is New Zealand's most colourful geothermal valley. You can easily spend an entire day here, and walk for almost 10 km. As soon as you enter this park, you are hit with a very strong odour of rotten eggs, this is how you know you are right in Mother Nature's chemistry lab! The smell sort of grows on you, I didn't even feel it after sometime because of the beauty that lay in front of me. Thank you God for giving me eyes to see this wonderful marvel and all the hues that come with it! Entering into the thermal wonderland (aptly named), take a walk past craters which keep you in awe and you are greeted by this beautiful activity called Artist's palette. You can see in the pictures below the wonderful colours, bright yellow for sulphur, orange rocks because of hot springs filled with geothermal fluid, greens and blues and purple hues all around, no wonder it is named one of the most surreal places on earth. When you look at the champagne pool, you know it is not water, it is ethereal, pure minerals that are surfacing from beneath the earth's surface looking for an outlet out. There are believed to be a lot of minerals dissolved in that fluid, including gold, sure is a sight to behold.
As you walk further along, you are greeted by amazing green geothermal fluid lakes, it really looks like nature's potion is brewing. Some of these pools contain sulphuric acid and hydrogen sulphide. Make sure that you are very careful and stick to the marked tracks at all times because these pools are boiling hot!
Further along, you are met with this incredible sight of lake Ngakoro, which gets its florescent green colours because of the algae bloom in the area. The thermal fluid makes for the perfect environment for these algae to bloom. There are also several grey springs that you come across, some of these with very high deposits of copper. Without editing any photo, and on a cloudy day, these pictures below were taken. I would urge you to not miss the Rotorua region.
"If there was one place that you tell me to go to in New Zealand, it would be the Rotorua region".
Artist's palette and Champagne Pools
Lake Ngakoro and geothermal fluid pools
Warm water springs flow into this lake making it warm year round and allowing for the algae bloom. This waterfall flows over the rocks into the green waters of Lake Ngakoro. You can see the majority of the lake, which was likely formed from a hydrothermal eruption over 700 years ago.
Craters - deep with in the earth's crust, mantel and core, these fluids and gases have an opening.
Grey geothermal spring
Ipu
These pools of mud contain unrefined crude oil. In the late 1800s and early 1900s the sludge on top of these pots was skimmed off to burn in kerosene lantern. Heated by thermal vents from below the surface, the temperature of the mud is about 50 degrees celsius. The colour and consistency of the mud is from a combination of small parts of graphite and crude oil. No wonder matches and lighting a fire is not permitted here!
Orakei Korako Geothermal Attraction
Website -> https://www.orakeikorako.co.nz/
After having had an amazing time in the Rotorua region, when it was time to go back to Auckland, I just felt that I hadn't had enough of these geothermal beauties that New Zealand is so famous for, that I wanted to visit one last geothermal park. Boy, I am glad I did, because I got to visit the wonderful Orakei Karoko Geothermal Attraction. Here I got to see bubbling mud! I was soo excited that I just watched the mud bubbling for like 15 minutes. There is something wonderful to experience nature's marvels first hand! In Orekei, you can see a lot of small geysers, you just watch one and suddenly the water bubbles and erupts! It is so cool, I just can't describe it enough! To get to the region, you have to go in a boat, through a crater lake. Just past the lake, you get to immerse in Nature's most best kept secret. This region is the most active region of all the geo thermal regions that I saw in New Zealand.
Also at Orakei Korako is the Ruatapu Cave, one of only two caves in the world known to exist in a geothermal field. The cave extends 45 metres, with a vertical drop of 23 metres, to a shallow pool of clear, sulfate-rich, warm acid water. The pool's chemical composition gives it the unique ability to clean jewellery. How amazing it feels to take a short but steep walk to reach this cave! Oh to be a bird and fly inside!! But of course, it is dangerous and prohibited due to nature's activity inside the cave.
I can almost say that this is the most alive I have seen Mother Nature!
In the picture you can see the sights whilst walking, bubbling mud, geothermal springs and the geothermal cave.
Craters of the moon
This is possibly named the most apt. The entry to this park is $10 NZ and the cheapest option of all the geothermal parks. Every nook and cranny you look, you can see a steam vent and smoke emitting.
Source - Wikipedia
Craters - All the craters at The Craters of the Moon are the result of hydrothermal eruptions. The pressure of the steam beneath the surface exceeds the pressure exerted by the weight of the overlying ground. This results in an explosion. A mixture of hot water, steam, hot mud and pumice is ejected into the air. Material may be blown up to 100 m, leaving behind holes or craters as deep as 20 m. Hydrothermal eruptions occur about once a year.
Fumaroles - The openings in the earth surface, where geothermal steam and gases are emitted, are called fumaroles. These vary in size from one centimetre to half a meter in diameter. The most powerful fumarole observed at Craters of the Moon occurred December 1967. It had a heat output of 116 MW.
Mud-pools - Currently, only one of the craters has a mud-pool. Here the gases (mainly H2S) react with water to form sulphuric acid. This reacts with the rocks, turning it to clay. When there is water present, this forms the grey coloured mud-pools “that bubble and burp as steam and gas escape through them”.
Craters of the moon emitting smoke
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