Days 19–20: Rotorua feat. Wai-O-Tapu & The Redwoods Forest
All things geothermal, with some tall trees thrown in for good measure
There weren’t many camping options in Rotorua so, for our time there, we opted to stay at Planet Backpackers Hostel. Don’t worry, we still slept in the van, but for only $5pppn, we had access to all of the facilities in the hostel: washing machine and dryer, kitchen, showers, toilets, WiFi, electricity, etc. The hostel was great and the lovely owner, Marie, did a great job of looking after us and giving us tips for where to visit. Thanks, Marie!
Our first stop of the day was Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. For $32.50 each, we saw the Lady Knox Geyser go off and we walked around the geothermal fields of Wai-O-Tapu.
We went to see the geyser first, which they make erupt every day at just after ten by throwing a piece of soap into it. Apparently, the soap breaks the surface tension of the cold water which lets the hot water then shoot out.
We then moved into the wonderland. We’d noticed that the smell of sulphur was in the air in parts of Rotorua, but it was particularly strong in Wai-O-Tapu. If you don’t know what sulphur smells like, just imagine really rotten eggs; it’s not nice. We spoke to one couple back in Matamata who told us that they couldn’t stay in Rotorua because of the smell. I don’t think it was that bad, but it gives you an idea of just how rotten those imaginary eggs are.
The geothermal landscape of Wai-O-Tapu was amazing but, despite reading lots of information about it while we were there, I don’t really have much to say about it; it’s just more exciting to look at, so here are some photos.
All of the colours in the lakes and pools are caused by different minerals and they range from purples to reds, browns to greens, and yellows to greys.
Watching the acidic gases rising from the pools was cool — or rather, hot — and the water temperatures were above 100°C in most places. They advise not to wear flip-flops — presumably for this reason — but Anna and I like to live life on the edge.
The lake at the furthest point of the park was mint green, but not because of any of the minerals. It was actually because of algae that thrive in the hot water.
This final lake, however, which they save until the very end of your visit, definitely gets its colour from minerals.
A short drive down the road from Wai-O-Tapu brought us to a place called Kerosene Creek. While the name doesn’t exactly sound welcoming, the creek itself definitely was.
After a quick walk from the carpark, we came to a part of the stream where a waterfall fell down into a small plunge pool.
Now, I know the phrase “the water was like a bath” gets thrown about all the time by British tourists — usually to describe the sea in countries where the water is lukewarm — but when I use it here, I mean it literally. The water flowing into the creek is heated by the geothermal springs, and we actually had to let our feet adjust to the temperature before getting in — just like a hot bath.
It was a bizarre experience getting into the creek because my brain automatically equates stream water with bloody freezing. As well as the plunge pool taking the role of a bath, the waterfall coming over the edge was exactly like a shower. I think I spent too long “showering” under there because I felt a little lightheaded after getting out!
Once I was safely able to drive again without passing out, we changed tack and visited the Blue Lake. Unlike most bodies of water in the area, the Blue Lake was actually cold so it made for a nice change; particularly because the day was another scorcher.
Finally, after it got dark, we went to our last stop for the day: Redwoods Forest. We booked onto the Treewalk; a series of raised swing bridges between the trees. While it was open all day, we went at night because they light the whole walk up with lanterns and fairy lights.
It was fun, but the lighting wasn’t quite as amazing as the website makes it look. Considering it was dark and we couldn’t actually appreciate the size of the trees — which is the main reason for visiting them — we were hoping that the lanterns and lights would be more spectacular than they were. In hindsight, we would probably have been better off going during the day, but we did still make the most of the evening.
The following morning, to compensate for the fact that we didn’t get a chance to properly appreciate the redwood trees the night before, we went back to the forest again for a quick walk in the daylight.
This more than made up for the night before as we were actually able to comprehend just how tall the trees were.
The forest contains coastal redwood trees which were originally brought over from Califonia. The coastal redwood is the tallest tree species in the world — not the largest though, that title goes to the giant sequoia.
One fun fact that we did learn is that although redwood trees are a hardwood when grown in California, they are actually a softwood when grown in New Zealand because the higher amount of rain enables them to grow faster. Slow-growing equals hardwood and fast-growing equals softwood. I never knew that one type of tree could be both soft and hard depending on where it grows.
I expect I found that “fun fact” way more interesting the rest of you so you’ll be glad to know that here marks the end of this post.
