Walking in a Volcano

Hello again. We left Rotorua and on our way to Tuapo we stopped at Waimangu Volcanic Valley and took a 3.6 km walk along rift lines and old lake beds.

Waimangu is the only hydrothermal system in the world that can be dated, it started on June 10, 1886. That was the day when a violent volcanic eruption blew and created a series of craters that have since become lakes. The initial eruption opened up many passages that allow geothermal fluid direct access to the surface.

The dominant feature here is Tarawera mountain volcano that is still considered active and has erupted 5 times in the last 18,000 years. As I stated previously, the most recent major eruption was in 1886 and destroyed and forever changed the geography of the area. All plant, animal and bird life was snuffed out in a few hours. There were some lives lost in the event and again in some of the followup eruptions as well.

Another event happened in 1900 to 1904 when the world's largest geyser became active just 1 km from the 1886 epicenter. This followed by another eruption nearby, at an area called the Frying Pan Flat. This eruption destroyed Waimangu Inn that was built as a viewpoint.

As you can see, vegetation has long concealed the scarring caused by the volcano

The guide book says that when the Waimangu Geyser erupted on August 30, 1903 4 tourists, standing at a place they were told was dangerous, were swept away by the boiling hot water and steam....a very nasty way to die.

As it looks now

The same view after the eruption

More after and before angles

Down the hill, Up the hill...a exercise day for sure.

The steam rising front the hot thermal water being pushed to the surface....very hot scalding water.

Definitely not your "ole swimmin hole"...you would be cooked in this.

More of that silica like we saw in Te Puia

You can see the little underwater formations where hot water and sediment bubble up through, slowly building these little "cones"

There were some different colors present...algae did grow in this environment

Apparently the color of this lake varies depending on what minerals are present at the time

More color variations

This may be one of the rifts (or tears) caused by the eruptions

Now we back in the tropical zone

There in the distance is our destination, Lake Rotomahana. Before the 1886 eruption the lake was the site of what was called the Pink and White Terraces. Apparently people came from all over the wlrld to see these spectacular natural formations that were destroyed in the eruption.

The Anti Stoat patrol on duty...gotta save those Kiwi birds.

We were happy that the trail was mostly on flat ground near the end of our trek.  We met some care takers who confirmed the "marshalling" area signs were for gathering tourists should their seismic system indicate things were happening below...not today thankfully!

But there were some up and down sections as well

The trail was cut through some of mud and soil that was deposited here after the eruption activity

These funny looking trees are called Toetoe trees, why, I'm not sure but they are considered rare and grow in this old lake bed soil quite well

Tropical vegetation on one hillside....

Nice flat and fertile soil on the bottom...due to the mud deposits from the eruption.

and the opposite hillside more suited to our northern location.....what a contrast!

Bit of the mix between tropical and not so tropical

Coming up to Lake Rotomahana

Black Swans

I asked one of the staff what these black colored swan-like birds were and he told me they were Black Swans!.....Duh!...I shoulda guessed

Yes....i'm coming!

Mt Tarawera just after it blew...

And now looking very peaceful and serene...what a difference after water filled in the crater

This was the end of our 3.6 km walk and thankfully they had a bus to take us back. We asked the driver what were the chances of another eruption happening again and he just shrugged his shoulders and said if we were in the area when it blew, "don't worry, we will be dead before you know it"....yeah ok, that certainly is comforting

So after this adventure we headed to Tuapo; next adventure....Soaring!!