Te Puia Geothermal Park

Just finished our loop of the geothermal area Te Puia. In addition to the geysers, including Pohuta, the largest geyser in the southern hemisphere, spurting water up to 30m,

we also saw several bubbling mud pools, the largest had mud that was 6 to 10 m deep.

We also saw several deep holes with bubbling hot water at the bottom, one of which had pretty light blue water from the minerals present.

Over the course of the day, it got hotter and hotter, maybe from the weather, maybe from the geothermal activity heating the air in the valley. Made it a little miserable.

The reason for the geysers in this area is because of the river that runs through the valley, or at least that’s part of the reason, because there’s plenty of groundwater present to be heated by the hot magma 3 km deep.

The stream itself is actually cold, except along the edges where hot springs bubble up in a few places.

In addition to the Hot Springs Te Pioa also is a Maori cultural museum where you can watch Maori artist do traditional Maori carvings in both wood and stone. Only men are allowed to carve, because they believe that carving imparts your life force into the piece. Women need their life force to have babies. Women, however, weave. They use the native flax plant, removing the outside of the plant to create various effects. They also add bird feathers, such as kiwi Feathers, or peacocks which are not native, but can be found in the wild here.

Te Puia also has a Maori meeting house and storage house. We caught the very end of a traditional Maori dance.

What is a “Holiday Park”?

Our accommodations for the night we’re at a Holiday Park. Thermal Springs Holiday Park, Rotorua, to be specific. Unfortunately, we had waited until the last minute to book, and all that they had left was a small trailer with two sets of bunkbeds in it. No table. No chairs. No running water. Communal bathrooms. The kids were not impressed when we arrived. My husband wasn’t either. At least one of the bunk beds was a double/single, though that’s still the smallest bed we have shared in a long time.

In the morning we took advantage of the thermal hot springs baths and the heated swimming pool.

To be honest, the facilities were fine, totally adequate, just not the houses and apartments we’d been staying in, which had at least two bedrooms and full kitchens.