It was another cold night but was very clear, not a cloud in the sky. It was going to be a beautiful day. Our first stop this morning was at Orakei Korako which was a few miles up the highway from Taupo towards Rotorua.
Orakei Korako which in the Maori language is “The Place for Adorning”, it is also called The Hidden Valley. It is a highly active geothermal area most notable for its series of fault-stepped sinter terraces.
When we arrived at the park, we were on the wrong side of the lake. We had to take a small ferry to the other side to start our walk through the park.
Prior to boarding the ferry we decided to have a coffee and a piece of carrot cake. We had a few visitors join us and apparently even the birds like the carrot cake.
Once we had finished our coffee we boarded the ferry and headed across the lake. The first site of the park is the Emerald Terrace.
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| The Emerald Terrace |
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| The Emerald Terrace |
The Emerald Terrace continues 35 meters under the lake which was formed when the Waikato River was dammed in 1961 raising the level by 49 meters. The raising of the river for hydropower flooded approximately 200 hot springs and 70 geysers. Two of the world’s largest geysers were drowned by the lake. Minginui Geyser, which was once observed erupting up to 90 meters high and Orakeikorako Geyser which gave the whole region its name.
There was a specified route through the park and we were encouraged to stay on the boardwalk. We saw many phenomenal and sometimes weird sights. There was a lot of picture taking.
After the Emerald Terrace the first stop was the Diamond Geyser. The geyser is very unpredictable as its eruptions can last for a few minutes or sometimes as long as a few hours. We were not fortunate enough to see it erupt.
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| Diamond Geyser |
During our walk we came upon sights such as Rainbow and Cascade Terrace, The Golden Fleece Terrace and The Artist’s Palatte.
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| Rainbow Terrace |
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| Rainbow Terrace |
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| The Golden Fleece |
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| The Golden Fleece with the Wairiri Geyser |
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| The artist's Palatte |
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| The Artist's Palatte |
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| The Artist's Palatte |
We saw the Elephant Rock and the Soda Fountain. The Soda Fountain after laying dormant for 17 years suddenly refilled and burst into life in 1984. Since then it has been unpredictable and can fill and empty at any time.
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| Elephant Rock |
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| Elephant Rock |
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| The Soda Fountain |
We were able to get close to the mud pools and see the gas bubbles rising to the top.
The most amazing part of the park was the colors. Whether it was the greens of algae or the many colors of silica it was breathtaking.
We had the opportunity to see the Ruatapu Cave, one of only two caves in the world known to exist in a geothermal field. The cave extends 45 meters, with a vertical drop of 23 meters to a shallow pool of clear, sulfate-rich, warm acid water. The pool’s chemical composition gives it the unique ability to clean jewelery.
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| Ruatapu Cave |
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| Ruatapu Cave |
A few other spectacles seen today.
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| Hochstetter Cauldron |
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| Devil's Throat |
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| More of the Artist’s Palatte |
We finally had to say goodbye to Orakei Korako. It was a pretty interesting walk around this area of ground that hasn’t changed for thousands, if not millions of years. However, we had to move on, so we jumped on the ferry and headed back across the lake to the van. Our next stop will be Rotorua.
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