Day 88: Wai-O-Tapu and to Auckland, NZ (April 5, 2011)

This morning I went to Wai-O-Tapu ("Sacred Waters"), a smallish park in New Zealand heated and decorated by the thermal activity under the ground. I saw decorated because it was among the most beautiful, and certainly the most unusual, land I've seen on this trip or anywhere. By comparison, only Yellowstone National Park in the States rivals Wai-O-Tapu (at least among lands that I've seen) and I while Wai-O-Tapu isn't as grand as Yellowstone, I think I prefer it because all of its little treasures can be seen in an easy 90 minute walk. There are also no cars and fewer tourists at each stop! Here are a few highlights:

I took so many photos today. There are 25 "highlights" along the 90 minute walk, and I can't even post one of each shot here, let alone multiples. You'll just have to bug me when I'm back home if you want to see more. :) The fantastic colors are caused by a number of different minerals slowly percolating up out of the ground along with the boiling hot water: sulphers, salts, antimony, manganese, silica, iron and carbon.

Here's something interesting about this geyser:  It naturally goes off about once a day, but the gap between spurts varies from 24-36 hours.  So to keep it on schedule, once a day a park ranger drops a ball of soap into the hole.  About one minute later, it geyses (is that a verb?  What's the verb for what a geyser does?).  The soap does not leave a residue and is safe for the environment and geyser.  It also makes it convenient for the people who come to watch it, although it felt llike cheating, having someone activate the geyser for us like that.

So it's just over body temperature, right?

The afternoon was spent on the bus from Rotarua to Auckland (from whence I write; the ride is smooth enough, and my typing good enough, that I can type while we ride), where I will spend my last three days in New Zealand. I am happier with the pace I've set for myself in the North Island. I'm spending less time getting from place to place and more time actually seeing and experiencing stuff. Well, that means if I come back, I know to devote a lot more time to the South Island!  And I won't catch a cold next time, either.

[Later, near bedtime:] I'm now in Auckland, and settled into the comfy home of Andrew and Rachel. I met Andrew at my B&B in Christchurch, and after knowing me for about 7 minutes, he offered me a place to stay when I got to his home town. Of course I liked the offer, but I wanted to make sure he meant it, so I told him to ask his wife then get back to me. He did and he did and the invitation stood, and here I am. They are a really nice couple, laid back and good at conversation. I expect I'll spend much of my time here with one or both of them, but I might give them a break from my presence a little bit too.  I'm sensitive about wearing out my welcome.  :)

Andrew and Rachel picked me up from the bus stop and we went out for dinner. When we got back, we were mostly chatting, but an episode of Law & Order was on in the background, and it reminded me how little I've watched TV. Other than when I was in Tanzania, and watching the news about Egypt with Abdul, I've watched about 2 hours of TV on this whole trip, and about 90 minutes of that was in Sri Lanka, when Sarath's family was watching their version of American Idol. Many of my hotel rooms had TV in them. Looking back, maybe I should have turned some of them on. Like in Ghana -- what's the TV like there? Or Cambodia? Alas, I'll never know because I just don't care about TV. I can probably cross "cable" off the list of things I'll need to acquire when I get back home.