Category: New Zealand

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Orakeikorako New Feature, 2019 January 25

Orakeikorako #120nw, 2019 January 25. Video by H.Koenig and Suzanne Strasser.

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Kereru Geyser Activity for 2019 January 22

Eruptions of Kereru Geyser, Whakawerawera, 2019 January 22. Video by H.Koenig

I came across this photo years ago on eBay, and just rediscovered it when I was organizing things brought back from the trip. It is interesting to see that a century ago there weren't any trees in the background. (Those trees are part of the California Redwood Preserve.)

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New Zealand summary

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.

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Observations for 2019 Jan 27

We had another chance today to stop at Tokaanu and try and see Taumatapuhipuhi. The geyser itself has been heavily altered, with a channel around 40cm deep cut through the side of the vent, through a sinter platform and leading to a couple of hot-pot bathtubs about 20 meters away. It is on private property, and is posted, so we kept discreet while waiting.

When we arrived, the water was slowly flowing down the channel, and there was near continuous bubbling from one side of the vent. About ten minutes after we arrived, suddenly the water rose up, and started splashing well above the rim. Some splashes were about 1.5 meters high, and the eruption lasted maybe 30 seconds.

After that, the water level dropped well below overflow, but after about twenty minutes, was back to about where we found it. So not surprised to see another eruption, almost identical to the first, with an interval of 28 minutes.

That was our last opportunity to see New Zealand geysers, at least for this trip. I think we saw about 15 total in five different thermal areas. All of them were different and unlike geysers we've seen before, the same way the thermal areas were unique.

Posting of videos will have to wait until we get back, when I can finally edit and then upload them. I took a lot, along with GPX recordings of our walks and hikes. Those will help locate the features and maybe make corrections as to what we actually saw in the case of Orakeikorako.