Geothermal Activity and Rotoroa, North Island, New Zealand.

Friday 1st and Saturday 2nd May 2026

We chose to visit a couple of geothermal sites on Friday, spending the night before on the car park at Korako, before moving on to Wai-O-Tapu, then finally heading to Rotorua for the night.

Each of the geothermal sites have a different experience to offer. What they have in common, is the awful sulphurous smell and choking fumes, if you are unlucky enough to get caught. Best to hold your breath if you can.

Orakei Korako:

To get to this site, you are ferried across the river first.

There is a good walkway around the whole site, but at times the going is steep which is not good if you have just had a lung-full of sulphurous steam.

It was definitely worth it though. The geysers were not spouting, but they were bubbling and steaming furiously. The streaks of bright colours across the sinter terraces are amazing and at times it looked as though the whole hillside opposite was on fire.

We also got to see some boiling mud pools and a cave:

Wai-O-Tapu:

There is a bit more to the Wai-O-Tapu site which has a number of brightly coloured lakes and large craters, caused by the acidic nature of the gases expelled, over time.

The last large collapse was in 1984. It is really strange and other-worldly.

The “Champagne Pool” is a star attraction. It is huge and has an ever-changing palette of colours:

Rotorua:

After quite an active day, the following morning we had a wander around Rotorua city. There are a number of interesting buildings, and the Government Gardens are nice:

The Rotorua Waterfront is attractive:

There is also “Sulphur Point”, evidence of geothermal activity, just beyond the Government Gardens area. By crikey, this area stinks. Although a public area, it is not somewhere people go to spend time.

We then went on the visit the National Kiwi Hatchery, where we saw some Kiwis, including a newly hatched one, called Sybil being weighed. Given that they are very shy nocturnal birds, photography is not allowed, but there were some stuffed examples in glass cases. I was surprised how large they are (about the size of a chicken).

We later returned to Rotorua to enjoy an Italian meal whilst in the background, the Rotorua Marathon took place. The last competitors staggered home as we finished our meal. We probably should do at least a marathon to work it off!

That is it for today. TTFN and see-u-later.