Month: February 2019

Once we get back, the last week of February, I can start editing all the video I took during that week in the thermal areas. There's a lot, so it will take a bit of time to organize it all, and probably to remember what some of it is.

Another thing I should do is write up a guide for gazing. We've spent the better part of a year getting ready for this trip. I learned a lot about what to expect, and found that there's not a lot of information about the geysers. We were operating blind in several cases, or working from information anywhere from 10 or 20 or even 50 years ago. I scanned a lot of that printed material, and created PDF files for my iPad, and can make them available.

There was also subtle information that might have helped. For example, I knew of the existence of Waiotapu Geyser, but not where it was located. The maps I had didn't have trail info, and the geyser itself is not marked in any way. Which is why we had to backtrack to find it, and lucky for us that worked to our advantge, as it meant we didn't waste another hour waiting for it, and instead finished seeing the area first.

On the otherhand, the Te Puia overlook is something that could use more time. It's close enough to do some real geyser gazing if you wanted to get timings on Pohutu, for example. And it might be amusing to see the lightshow and hike back in the dark.