Rotarua: Extraordinarily Beautiful Volcanic Lakes In New Zealand

One of the best known geothermal centres in the southern hemisphere is Rotorua, near the town of the same name, on New Zealand’s north island. This is really a fabulous place to visit and there is something very strange and eerie about it. You could almost believe that you were on another planet.

There are natural hot springs and some pools for bathing. The mud reeks of sulphur but is said to have healing properties. The colours are what make this place almost surreal because the water is shades of yellow ranging from pale lemon, buttercup lemon, through to yellow ochre. This is a real wonderland for tourists to visit and a sight that is certain to stay in the mind’s eye.

Even the town has this thermal activity going on around it and there are huge plumes of steam erupting from the ground in the green parkland areas. Most hotels have natural spas and there is a famous hot pool on Mokoia Island, just off the coast.

The north island of New Zealand has a chain of dormant volcanoes in the Tongariro National Park, which is south of Rotorua, along the same geological fault line. The last of these volcanoes to have a major eruption was Mount Ruapehu in 1995 and 1996.

The Whakarewarewa thermal reserve is where visitors can watch the Pohutu geyser which belches steam into the sky for some one hundred feet (thirty metres), every twenty minutes. The power released is awe inspiring.

Further south along the same line is Waimangu which is famous for its beautiful blue and green lakes which get their colour from a soup made up of hot water and minerals. This lake sits in the crater of an extinct volcano.

Wai-O-Tapu is in the same area and this has to be the most fabulous of all. The lake steams and ripples its soft yellow, green, and blue colours and gives an awesome mottled effect.  The Champagne Pool reaches temperatures of 165 degrees Fahrenheit, or 74 degrees centigrade.

This area is spectacular and the visitor may even imagine that it has been painted with the expertise of the artist’s brush, as the photographs are revealed, but it is one of nature’s truly natural and fabulous art exhibitions.