This morning we checked out and drove down to Wai-O-Tapu where we rushed to make the 10:15am eruption of Lady Knox Geyser.
Wai-O-Tapu is quite the commercialized park as the Lonely Planet warned but that didn't tell the whole story.
Around the geyser were seats set up amphitheater style for optimal viewing. 10:15 came and went. Cameras were poised. Then a park guide steps up to them geyser, tells us some history and geology, and proceeds to dump some surfactant into the mouth of the geyser. Water bubbles up and five minutes later it is gushing ten meters high.
I guess see the geyser was neat but for those expecting something like Old Faithful at Yellowstone, not quite the same.
We went into Wai-O-Tapu which was an easy hour and a half walk around interesting boiling mud and colorful pools smelling of various degrees of egg.
Having exhausted our $50 admission, we drove up Old Kerosene Road where we found a beautiful stream and mini waterfall that was hot! We were surprised no one hadn't commercialized this and charged for it. We put on our swim suits and had a fantastic relaxing dip in the hot waterfall.
At the ever so handy iSite tourism office, we got information on the Tongariro Crossing for tomorrow. Something I thought would have been just about free cost us $100 in having a shuttle take us to and from the all day hike. Had we planned it better, we would have only booked one night at Chandlers and driven the hour to get down there and carried on south.
Because of the rain, there was not much else to do. There were some highly rated jet boats in the area which we'll have to put off until the day after.
We hung out at the Internet cafe, bought food for our hike tomorrow, and had a nice lamb shank dinner at Pimentos. Then watched part of Lord of the Rings that I downloaded on my phone before going to sleep. Long hike ahead tomorrow!
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