This was the impressive Pohutu geyser in Te Puia! The jet of water spurted into the air here is about 20 meters high (as you can see if you look at the very small people standing on the bridge in the bottom left hand corner). Better still, at the base of the jet is a terrace of mulitcoloured silica depositions, surrounded by a sulpur-tinted wasteland. Beautiful!
Bubbling muck! These globules are formed every ten seconds or so - starting as bubbles of gas rising through mud formed by acidic errosion. When the bubble bursts a huge drop like this rises, then splats! There were more violently exploding mud pools too - where splatters would jump up to over a meter high - but they woren't as elegant as the simple gloopy ones. And below are the Cathedral Rocks - a lava structure at the edge of the beautiful fryingpan lake (the largest hot-spring in the world). This was in Waimangu reserve. The colourful rocks just steam continually... complementing the fantastic patterns made by the wind swirling steam rising from the lake.
The inferno crater, again in Waimangu. This is meant to be the largest geyser-like structure in the world... the water depth changes in a complex but predictable pattern over cycles about a month long (it must be female!). Beautiful blue, isn't it? I'm pearched on a fence as usual to get in the photo. Lots of scalding water beneath me if I fall off and so on...!
Gary by the Warbrick Terraces - more fantastic colours made by silica deposits, plus a lovely bubbling hot spring. You can see why we found these geothermal parks hypnotic, no?
The elegant Lady Knox geyser in Wai-O-Taupo park. Not quite so impressive as Pohutu geyser, but still nice. Not so active either though... this erruption occured only after the administration of soap suds!
The beautiful Artist's Palate and Champaigne Lake in Wai-O-Taupo. These incredibly vivid structures are the reason the park has the reputation of being the most colourful geothermal area in New Zealand. Stunning - especially with the steam rising and being swirled into different patterns by the wind... Here you can see the pools from two different angles - one with me next to them looking sheepish, and the other showing the colours off a bit!
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