Rotorua geo-thermal wonders

The Wai - O - Tapu geo-thermal area is about 20 minutes drive south of Rotorua, with a daily eruption of the Lady Knox guyser at 1030am, induced by chucking in some washing powder to break the surface tension of the cold water seal.

Once the washing powder has started the reaction, the jet of steam and cold water initially bubbles and then gushes about 20 metres into the air.

After we made our way back to the entrance to the park, we embarked on a two hour walk around all the hot lakes and bubbling mud pools. This large hot lake is "the artist's palette" with green from sulphur and ferrous salts, orange from antimony, purple from manganese oxide, white from silica, and black from sulphur and carbon.

The bright orange at the edge of this pool is from trentepohlia, a bright orange algae which thrives on the warm edges over lichens.

This is boiling mud.

In the evening we went for a swim in the hot waters of the rivers upstream, at a place called "the secret spot", which is not very secret, but is free and as good as a spa, or better.