We weren’t entirely sure which attraction we would attend to see mud pools, thermal springs etc but were so glad that we chose Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. It is a large park area with a variety of walks over different distances. We arrived as it opened about 8.30am and took an hour to have a look at some of the sights. We then left the park (re-entry is free) to go and see the Lady Knox geyser.
This is a short drive away and the geyser erupts at 1015am. To do this, they organize it through a guy adding some bath salts to the geyser and and the reaction eventually causes it to erupt whilst being serenaded by one of the staff. It’s all a bit staged for the tourists but well worth a look. I think it only happens once a day. The mud pools are also local to the geyser and are free to look at.
After this, we returned to the thermal springs and continued our walk around the park.
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We spent the evening at The Mitai Mauri village. The evening consists of an informal presentation, a war canoe exhibition, a meal, a stage performance, and a walk around the immediate area.
The presenter was very passionate about his Mauri heritage and it was interesting to hear the history of the Mauri culture. They do a mockup of a Mauri war canoe being paddled up their small river and you are also fed with a delicious meal cooked in the traditional hangi manner. Given the large number of people involved, the hangi meal was not totally authentic but it was certainly very tasty and there was lots of it. The stage performance was very good consisting of songs, sparring and war greetings. Compared to some of the other similar events we attended, this one was very good. The downside to the event was the walk through the ‘village’ and the glow worms which we somehow completely missed! However, all in all, it was a good evening’s entertainment.
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