A visit to Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland

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Last week we went to Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. It is a protected thermal area of about 18 km² which you can find at the edge of the caldera around Lake Taupo , 25km south of Rotorua. Waiotapu consists of  diverse collapsed craters, lakes, mud holes, crevices, geysers and a pervasive covering smell of rotten eggs.

Größere Kartenansicht

This protected area is praised as the attraction of New Zealand and accordingly a lot of money and energy is put into marketing it. So I was excited to finally visit this legendary place.

Before you get to the craters you have to pass through a souvenir shop in order to buy a ticket (Currently $30 per adult, $10 per child and $75 for families). The souvenir shop is really well arranged, and the staff are very friendly. Attached to the shop you can find a cafe.

After we had braced ourselves with a cup of cappuccino we went straight into the aromatic garden.

First we crossed a creek which contains so many chemicals that no fish can live there. Then we were standing in front of the so-called Devil`s home. Here I stood and asked myself what was so dreadful about this crater that it deserves such a scary name? We headed further to the so-called rainbow crater. But where was the rainbow?  And so it went on and on until we come to the famous Champagne Pool; it got its name because of the carbon dioxide-produced bubbles which rise to the surface. So here it is, the so often photographed pool, shrouded in mist and offering really magnificent colours.

The Champagne Pool certainly is worth a visit if you want to take some cool photos. But these few bubbles which are rising to the surface remind more me of stale bubbly wine than an exciting, sparkly treat.

The next area called the Artist`s Palette really looks impressive, but I fear that if was ordering a picture by the artist who uses this range of colors, I would become slightly depressed    (see last photo) .

At 10.15am daily, they throw a piece of soap into the maw of the Lady Knox Geyser to break the surface tension so that the geyser keeps to the tourists´ schedule to and spits its fountain towards the sky. (And I can´t help myself in asking how this is compatible with the official New Zealand advertising slogan `100% pure´)

In the pamphlet each site is had very flowery and promising names like Devils Home, Rainbow Crater, Thunder Crater, Artists Palette etc. Unfortunately these names are more distracting than anything else.

I am afraid to say that the information which isgiven in the pamphlet is pretty sparse and provide neither information about the history of this area nor the cultural and spiritual meaning to Maori (after all Wai-O-Tapu means holy water in Maori. I would assume that this has to be a very special place for them. Also the geological information is pretty skimpy. An exhibition of different rocks etc. would be certainly helpful for mediating a better understanding.

All in all I can say that it was a really nice trip, we got to see some amazing stuff (and Alice an I added two t-shirts and one cap to our wardrobe).  To me it was certainly not The attraction of New Zealand, though. A reason for this is that the natural wonder is lost in the marketing hype. I make no secrect that I got the impression that it was not the most important point to increase people´s knowledge, understandung and respect for Wai-O-Tapu but much more to guide as many tourists as possible through i.e. to make as much money as possible.  A bit more background information and a bit less hype would have been far preferable and fair to this special place.