Waimangu Volcanic Valley

27.11.16

We are heading to the geothermally youngest area on earth, the Waimangu Volcanic Valley. It was created by a huge volcanic eruption of Mt. Tarawera about 130 years ago and, like almost everything in New Zealand, is still active. During the eruption, the complete plant and animal life around the mountain was wiped out. The entire nature there has recovered on its own without human planting.

Our path through the valley takes us past silicate terraces, many craters often filled with hot, even steaming water. We saw sulfur deposits in the rock and of course it smells a bit like it here. One of the largest hot springs (Frying Pan Lake) and the largest geyser-like basin (Inferno Crater) in the world are located here. However, there is no fountain to see here. Rather, the water collects in a basin for several weeks and then simply overflows. Unspectacular but still impressive.

It takes us a good 3 hours to reach the end of the valley, Lake Rotomahana. From there, fortunately, we take a shuttle bus back to the starting point.

Afterwards, we should go directly to Taupo, but Dibbi's rental van doesn't start again. That means waiting 2 hours for the repair service. When the car starts again, we drove to a free campground near Taupo.