Jared Lee - Photo Album - Wai-O-Tapu

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About halfway between Taupo and Rotorua lies the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland, a bizarre area of small geysers, bubbling mud, sulfur vents and much more, just a sample of some of the geologic activity of the area
December 16, 2004

01-WaiotapuSign Entrance sign for Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland, between Taupo and Rotorua, in the Central Volcanic Plateau ... I paid $20NZ admission to take a walk around this cool park on Thursday, December 16, 2004

02-Waiotapu Waiotapu

03-Creek Creek

04-WeatherPool Weather Pool

05-WeatherPool Weather Pool

06-WeatherPool Weather Pool

07-ColouredRocks Coloured rocks ... there were so many minerals emanating from below the ground, that all the rocks and water were coloured a wide array of things ... the air was also really hot, and pretty much reeked most of the time I was there, due to the amount of sulfur around, but it was still an awesome place

08-DevilsHome Devil's Home

09-DevilsHome Devil's Home

10-Waiotapu Waiotapu

11-TheCraters The Craters

12-InfoSign Info sign

13-TheCraters The Craters

14-RainbowCrater Rainbow Crater

15-Fumaroles Little fumaroles, little holes in the earth's surface where hot gases are bubbling up

16-ThunderCrater Thunder Crater

17-ThunderCrater Thunder Crater, with all sorts of boiling mud down there

18-ThunderCrater Thunder Crater

19-ThunderCrater Thunder Crater

20-DevilsInkPots Devil's Ink Pots, one of the coolest-named sites in Wai-O-Tapu

21-DevilsInkPots Devil's Ink Pots

22-DevilsInkPots Devil's Ink Pots

23-DevilsInkPots Devil's Ink Pots

24-DevilsInkPots Devil's Ink Pots

25-DevilsInkPots Devil's Ink Pots

26-RedDust All the pine needles around the park were covered in this reddish dust of some sort

27-InfoSign Info sign, describing what causes the different colours in the formations around the park

28-ArtistsPalette Artist's Palette

29-ArtistsPalette Artist's Palette

30-ArtistsPalette Artist's Palette

31-ArtistsPalette Artist's Palette

32-ArtistsPalette A small geyser in the Artist's Palette

33-ArtistsPalette Artist's Palette

34-PrimroseTerraces Primrose Terraces, once a prime thermal spa resort, until a thermal/volcanic explosion in the early 1900s wiped it out, killed many people, and changed the landscape

35-OpalPool Opal Pool

36-OpalPool Opal Pool

37-PrimroseTerrace Primrose Terrace

38-Boardwalk Boardwalk between Artist's Palette and Champagne Pool

39-JeanBattenGeyser Jean Batten Geyser

40-Jared-ArtistsPalette Me next to the steamy Artist's Palette

41-PanoramicView Panoramic View

42-PanoramicView Panoramic View ... that's literally the name of this place

43-BridalVeilFalls Bridal Veil Falls

44-WaiotapuGeyser Waiotapu Geyser

45-AlumCliffs Alum Cliffs

46-AlumCliffs Alum Cliffs

47-FryingPanFlat Frying Pan Flat

48-FryingPanFlat Frying Pan Flat

49-Fumaroles Fumaroles

50-OysterPool Oyster Pool

51-SulphurCave Sulphur Cave

52-FryingPanFlat Frying Pan Flat

53-LakeNgakoroWaterfall Lake Ngakoro Waterfall

54-LakeNgakoro Lake Ngakoro, an eerie green colour

55-RedGreenBrush Red and green bushes

56-NativeBushWalk Native Bush Walk

57-NativeBushWalk Native Bush Walk

58-SulphurMounds Sulphur Mounds

59-BridalVeilFalls Bridal Veil Falls

60-BridalVeilFalls Bridal Veil Falls

61-ChampagnePool Champagne Pool

62-ChampagnePool Champagne Pool

63-InfoSign Info sign

64-InfoSign Info sign

65-ChampagnePool Champagne Pool

66-ChampagnePool Champagne Pool

67-TheCraters The Craters

68-BirdsNestCrater Bird's Nest Crater

69-DevilsBath Devil's Bath ... by this point my camera's batteries were on life support and I was trying to coax every last photo out of them

70-DevilsBath Devil's Bath