Category: New Zealand

Today was the day we took to the waters of Rotomahana by kayak to see geysers. Turned out to be an excellent day. It was cloudy at first, but quickly cleared into a cool, mostly sunny day.

We met our guide at a little after 0900 at the Waimangu visitor center and cafe. Turns out she was the same guide we had had three years ago, and was late because sheep were being moved between paddocks. (We are in New Zealand, remember?) This time we were joined by Graham Meech.

Took the bus down to the water and were on the lake by 0930. The features are all along the lakeshore, both above and below the water. There were perhaps a couple of dozen little spouters right on the water's edge. Which is surprising, as the lake level varies, and the activity depends on that level.

Recording activity while operating a kayak can be difficult, so I tried something different this time. I bought a mount for my GoPro camera that consists of a neck collar with a camera attachment, and wore this. It makes it easy to turn on/off, and just let it record while paddling. It can also be held and pointed manually when needed. The only problems were that it sometimes would get tilted, or blocked by my paddling. But with the timestamp, it made it possible to save all the times of eruptions we saw, and to review what was seen on an overwhelming day.

There are several bays separating the thermal activity, so it's not all visible at once. [I will probably update this posting in a week or so after we return home with proper or corrected names. I don't have the reference materials and maps here.]

In the first bay, we saw a number of fumaroles and steam vents well above the lake level, but the only water was from a small vent about 1/2 meter above the lake that was pouring out water.

The next bay is where the Angel Wings is located. [I need to verify names here.] Most noticeable is a perpetual spouter erupting up to a couple of meters high inside an alcove, The alcove is surrounded by golden yellow thermophilic slime. Along the lake were a couple of small spouters flowing directly into the lake.

Also here is a set of unique formations. I've referred to this as "Angel Wings", but it appears that I was wrong. Our guide didn't known of a name, but said she called it "Oyster", and that's good enough for me to use as a name. It consists of a couple of sheets of sinter and does look like an oyster or clamshell. (There's also a "Clamshell Spring" located along the creek leading from the Frying Pan Flats.) Every couple of minutes it would erupt a meter or two high for a few seconds. The force of the eruptions varied, from weak to once threatening Graham when get got a little too close.

At the point separating the next bay were some features just at or below the surface of the lake. A couple of areas of strong upwelling and splashing on the lake surface, and to the left a small spouter on a slightly raised platform noisily sputtering away. Farther into the bay were more fumaroles just above the surface of the lake.

The next bay didn't have any thermal activity, so we didn't enter into it.

In the next bay was the primary attraction for the day— Pink Terrace/Otukapuarangi Geyser. One of the goals of this trip was to maximize the amount of time to observe this geyser, and were successful. After seeing few eruptions we went on to the point separating the bay from the next one. This was the last area of thermal activity.

After seeing at least seven eruptions of Pink Terrace/Otukapuarangi from the kayaks, our guide suggested we put ashore for lunch. This was a surprise, and we did not expect to be going ashore. As it turns out, it's common on this tour to have lunch on the beach of the bay we skipped, but I guess we were so enthusiastic about the geyser that she was willing to do us a favor. So sat down on some on some rocks at the edge of the lake, rocks that were warmer than just being out in the sun. (Graham said he had a small steaming crack a couple of feet from where he was sitting). We ate our sandwiches and pastries while the geyser erupted three times. The only disadvantage was that it was not possible to see the splashing at the start.

The intervals were about 8 to 9 minutes apart, and the durations varied a bit. At first they were about 100 seconds, while later they were over two minutes long. I would estimate the height of most of the eruptions to be about 10 meters, but some of my videos show some nice spikes going well above the general mass of the eruption. It was comparable to Kereru in height.

After the lunch we watch one more eruption from the kayaks, then headed back the way we came. We stopped in for a couple of eruptions of Oyster, then returned to the starting point.

Due to storms and wet weather of the past few years, a number of the trails have been re-routed or closed. A portion of the walkway following the creek is closed, a stretch with a number of small fumaroles and spouters. The Mt.Haszard side trail is closed, but when we walked that in 2019, we figured there was no need to do it again as there is a lot of climbing up and down and nothing but overgrown former viewpoints.

There was also a collapse of a cut in the trail near Iodine Spring requiring the rerouting of the trail up and around. This had the effect of making it much easier to see into Iodine, an actual improvement despite the steepness of the bypass.

On the morning bus ride out, the driver mentioned to the guide that Inferno Crater was overflowing. This was great news, as Inferno Crater has a cycle lasting around 38 days where it will come up to overflow for maybe a day. One of the reasons we weren't reluctant to leave the lake was because of this. As it turned out, the overflow probably stopped around the time we were having lunch. There was just slight overflow at the base of the runoff when we got there.

Another change from our previous visit is the change in the availability of toilet facilities. Previously the only indoor plumbing in the valley as at a building at the Warbrick Terrace. That building is now gone, so much so that I couldn't see where it had been. Instead there are more modern flush-type toilet as the three bus stops.

Today it was time to visit the other half of the Wakarewarewa thermal area, the Maori village.

In order to get to see Parekohoru and Korotiotio up close, one must take the 1-1/2 hour long Village Guided Tour. Unlike the Te Puia tour, at least you are in and around thermal areas for much of that time, and it's a much better introduction to the Maori culture than just wood carving. Also you get to sample a portion of an ear of corn that's been boiled in Parekohuro.

At the conclusion of the tour you end up at on overlook onto the Geyser Flat and Bluey Pool over in Te Puia. We also bought the Geothermal Walk, so could stay all day and leave and return to the overlook. Pohotu ended within moments of our arrival.

Graham Meech was over at the bridge across Puarenga Stream on the Te Puia side, and had witnessed the last Kereru minor eruption just after his arrival, well over an hour earlier. So we knew we were about to wait for however long it took to see the expected major eruption of Kereru.

Over the next hour we saw another eruption of Pohutu start, as well as activity from Waikorohihi and Mahanga. Because of our locations, we had the better view of the latter two geysers. They can be difficult to tell apart from the bridge overlook because of their close proximity and the viewing angle and the wind direction.

Kereru's vent isn't directly visible, hidden just out of sight by the mass of sinter forming the Geyser Flat platform. But it is possible to get an idea of the intensity of the activity.

Just over an hour later we notice an increase in the steaminess coming from Kereru. At the same time, a non-English speaking tour (probably Japanese) appeared on the platform. I don't know why, but these tours seem to have to make lots of noise as they spend their time taking selfies and staring at the little view screens instead of the scene in front of them. Of course, that's when Kereru erupted, especially since the wind direction shifted so that it was headed directly toward us. (And it didn't help that my camera glitched so that I missed the lead-up to the start of the eruption.)

After than, we figured we were free for a while, and it was time to do the Geothermal Walk. We took our time, and about 3/4 hour later we were only part-way along when we got a message from Graham telling us that the minor activity from Kereru had stopped and all was quiet there. So we returned to the platform.

We didn't need to hurry back, and saw a couple of Pohutu eruptions during our wait. The second eruption seemed to take longer to start, with Te Tohu erupting for nearly twenty minutes prior, when otherwise the interval was closer to twelve minutes. This eruption of Pohutu was also different in that there wasn't much of the preliminary splashing, but instead it started climbing almost immediately, while Te Tohu got bigger and noisier.

It was the strongest and tallest eruption of Pohutu we've seen this trip. I would estimate the height in the 25-30 meter range, definitely taller than a Daisy eruption. It could easily be heard from the overlook, and it maintained the height for several minutes before subsiding.

Right after this eruption, which had a typical duration of about 24 minutes, had ended, the steam from Kereru picked up. This time the platform was empty except for a quieter couple that I think were Italians. The wind direction cooperated, and I was able to record the full eruption showing the height.

Following that, with a bit over an hour left before closing time, we again went on the Geothermal Walk portion of our visit. This is an area of trails and boardwalks outside the limits of the village proper that winds through an area with large pools both clear and boiling and gray and sludgy. There are some perpetual spouters, but no true geysers in the area.

(Over at Te Puia, Graham had to stay because well over an hour before closing over there, once again he saw the Kereru minor series end. Unfortunately, he had to leave before the major eruption.)

One of the noticeable things on the first visit was the color of the Bluey Pool and its low water level. This was even more obvious from the overlook. This feature is not a hot spring, but more of a large catch basin used for swimming. Several of the guides on the tours mentioned that the prevailing winds have been from the wrong direction, preventing the water from the Pohutu eruptions from filling the pool. I notice also that there were signs up prohibiting the use of the pool, including a Rāhui, which is a formal Maori closure used for resource protection (and after accidental deaths).

Today it was a visit to Orakeikorako. We didn't get the earliest start, and due to fogs along the way (especially thermal fogs near Waiotapu and Waikite) the drive was a bit slower than expected. So we arrived a half hour after the opening.

Immediately after we got off the ferry boat we were greeted by an eruption of Sapphire. The intervals varied, with some as short as half an hour, but we managed to catch most of the eruptions during the day. We waited for the next eruption from the overlook, which has a nice view of the entire terrace, and verified that Cascade was huffing and rumbling, but not discharging any water.

After the next Sapphire eruption, it was time to visit the rest of the area. The boardwalk near Manganese and the new collapse features has been rerouted yet again. The new features (what I called #120nw) are mostly filling in with overflow from Manganese and other features at the base of the Golden Fleece Fault. Manganese was still boiling with variable intensity. So it was time to go up to the Artist's Palette.

It was still early and a bit foggy, making it hard to see what features were making all the noise. It was obvious that on the west half of the Palette almost all the features were devoid of water. That included the large Palette Pool, where plantlife could be seen growing on the floor within the crater. Only a couple of vents (like #743) had water in them. Square Pool was steaming, and occasionally the steam would thicken as if there was an eruption down deep in the vent.

On the other size of the Palette there were a number of pools (like #797, #735) that were full and boiling heavily. At the top of the Pyramid of Geysers there was a small sputterer making a lot of noise (it was what could be heard in the fog earlier). At the base of the Pyramid, #812 was full, but not erupting the way it was in earlier visits.

After a half hour or so, I returned to Sapphire. During the wait, I saw what could be called a minor eruption, as it only erupted to about a meter high and lasted about half a minute. Twenty minutes later there was a full eruption like those seen before.

Later in the morning, right after an eruption of Sapphire, I heard noise coming from the plants to the right of Cascade. It was an eruption of Bush Geyser, which consists of splashing down in a vent hidden in, the bush. The eruption lasted just over five minutes.

It was around then that Suzanne saw a new geyser erupt. It was a small vent located on the fault scarp wall just behind The Cauldron at the base of the Golden Fleece Terrace. A check of the map showed this to be feature #123 (with Cauldron #124), and at one time it, or a feature in that vicinity, was called "Prince of Wales Feathers Geyser".

While watching and waiting to see what might happen next, I noticed that Manganese Pool was no longer in overflow. This condition lasted for several minutes, at the end of which Manganese became calm and quiet. When it reactivated, the pool rose and began to overflow again. Later I was able to determine that for the rest of the day, Manganese was having a 15 minute cycle with it not overflowing for about 5 to 7 minutes each cycle.

Back up on the Artist's Palette, I managed to miss eruptions of #760 and #772. #760 continued to have activity down in its vent every 2 to 3 minutes, but I never seemed to be able to record any of this as the wind always seemed to cause the steam to head right toward me, and there were few available viewing options.

Two hours after the first eruption was observed, we all got to see a second eruption. The splashing from the small vent increased in size and vigor and a few moments before the eruption a second vent seemed to join in. The eruption itself was angled to a height we estimated as about 1-1/2 to two meters, and only lasted about 45 seconds.

Based on the interval we'd just seen, we figured there was a chance to see another eruption before the last ferry trip at 17:00. With some time to kill, I went back for another Cascade eruption, and caught the end of a Bush Geyser eruption, too.

As it turned out, this time the geyser #123 erupted with only an hour interval, catching us unaware, but luckily Suzanne was passing by moments before the start. I had decided to walk the mudpot loop, and got a text message about the eruption while I was at the farthest point on that walk. I didn't need to cut the walk short, but got out of there quickly.

We did more calculations, and determined there was a possibility of another eruption just before closing. As it turned out, we reached the hard deadline for leaving with the geyser splashing but nowhere near looking like it was going to erupt.

Finally, on the drive back, we drove the Te Kopia Road so that we could stop in at the Te Kopia Mudpots Reserve. The trail was overgrown the last visit three years ago, so I was pleasantly surprised to find it in not much worse condition. Seems that there are enough visitors there to keep the path beaten down and not completely overgrown.

The mudpots looked the same, and this visit I knew were to look for the Mud Geyser. It showed no signs that there had been any recent activity there.