Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland

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Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland - Visitor Center
Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland - Map of the park

Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland is a Department of Conservation licensed visitor park in the geothermal area of Wai-O-Tapu on the North Island of New Zealand . Operation of the park wastaken overby Te Arawa Group Holdings in 2012and has been operated by the company ever since.

Origin of name

The name Wai-O-Tapu comes from the Maori language and means “holy water”, where “ Wai ” stands for “water” and “ Tapu ” for “holy” or “forbidden”. The area where the most active geothermal sights of the Wai-O-Tapu are located was given the addition of Thermal Wonderland , presumably based on the white and pink terraces of the Tarawera area, which were so named at the time.

geography

The park, which has a size of 40 hectares and thus only covers a small part of the 18 km 2 geothermal area of Wai-O-Tapu , is located around 27 km south-southeast of Rotorua , 45 km northeast of Taupo and around one kilometer east of the New Zealand State Highway 5 , from which the park can also be reached.

history

Until the Tarawera eruption in 1886, the geothermal area of Wai-O-Tapu was little known. But after the destruction of the white and pink terraces, which had a tourist value in those days, Wai-O-Tapu got, according to the first descriptions in the reports by SP Smith (1887), TW Leys (1887) and APW Thomas (1888), who dealt with the eruptions of the Tarawera and Rotomahana volcanoes and mentioned Wai-O-Tapu in their reports. But at the latest after AS Herbert discussed the medical and therapeutic effects of some sources in 1921 and LI Grange prepared maps and descriptions of the sources in 1937, the geothermal area, which is now a park, was a new tourist attraction in the young state of New Zealand.

Until 1967, however, tourists were able to enter the area unhindered and uncontrolled. From 1967, the then Department of Lands and Survey granted a concession for access to, and for the care and maintenance of the area. In 1982 around 50,000 visitors a year were counted. The Te Arawa Group Holdings , which took over the park from the Sewell / Leinhardt family in 2012 after 30 years of operation , is silent about the current visitor numbers and statistics of the past few years . In a newsletter from March 2014 it was only announced that there were 15% more visitors in the financial year up to January 2014 compared to the previous year and a 10% increase in the number of visitors was determined in the previous year. At peak times of the season, the park is estimated to attract more than 1,000 visitors a day, according to the Rotorua Daily Post .

Attractions

Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland has 25 geothermal and related attractions in its park.

In addition to numerous collapsed volcanic craters, some of which are filled with water and then present as ponds or lakes, the area is also criss-crossed with numerous fumaroles . Some of the craters to be visited are up to 20 m deep and up to 50 m in diameter. These include the Krater, Devil's Home , Rainbow Crater and Thunder Crater , the latter was only created in 1968. The others include Frying Pan Flat , Inferno Crater , Bird's Nest , and Devil's Bath .

Opal Pool and Champagne Pool are the two ponds of the most famous and most interesting springs in the park. The latter pumps up to 74 ° C hot water and allows so much water to evaporate over an area of ​​around 65 m in diameter that you cannot see the other bank of the pond at times. Enriched with arsenic , antimony (III) sulfate , mercury , thallium , gold and silver , these create a fascinating orange-colored border around the pool.

Furthermore, there are two geysers on the area, the Jean Batten Geyser , which created fountains up to 3 m high, and the Wai-O-Tapu Geyser which was active in irregular cycles between 2 and 36 hours. Both geysers have not been active for some time, which suggests geological changes in the subsurface.

Particularly noteworthy are the colored precipitates of minerals that make rocks, ponds, ponds and lakes appear in a wide variety of colors, with the yellow precipitates for sulfur , orange for antimony , white for silicon dioxide , green for sulfur and iron (II) sulfate , purple for manganese oxide , red and brown for iron oxide and oxide hydroxide ) and black for sulfur and carbon are. The pungent smell of "rotten eggs" that arises from the outgassing is due to the hydrogen sulfide that forms in the depths and pushes through crevices and rising water to the surface of the earth.

The Lady Knox Geyser , an artificially created geyser, is located next to the park, but in a separate area that is not freely accessible and around one kilometer from the visitor center, which is on a grandstand every day at 10:15 a.m. and in front of hundreds during the season seated spectators, is brought to activity by adding soap and showcasing fountains between 10 and 20 meters high.

literature

  • EF Lloyd : The hot springs and hydrothermal eruptions of Waiotapu . In: New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics . Volume 1 , Issue 1 , 1959, pp. 141–176 , doi : 10.1080 / 00288306.1959.10431319 (English).
  • Jonet Ward, Bruce Burns, Vicki Johnson, David G. Simmons, John R. Fairweather : Interactions Between Tourists and the Natural Environment: Impacts of Tourist Trampling on Geothermal Vegetation and Tourist Experiences at Geothermal Sites in Rotorua . In: Lincoln University (Ed.): Tourism Research and Education Center (TREC) Report . No. February 16 , 2000, ISSN  1174-670X , p. 1–95 (English, online [PDF; 14.4 MB ; accessed on March 25, 2017]).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ward, Burns, Johnson, Simmons, Fairweather : Interactions Between Tourists and the Natural Environment ... . 2000, p.  24 .
  2. ^ A b c Kristin Macfarlane : Te Arawa buys major thermal tourism park . In: Rotorua Daily Post . November 3, 2012, accessed March 25, 2017 .
  3. ^ Māori Dictionary . Retrieved March 25, 2017 (English).
  4. ↑ Tarawera - Te Maunga Tapu . (PDF 4.1 MB) Rotorua Museum , archived from the original on February 9, 2013 ; accessed on May 22, 2019 (English, original website no longer available).
  5. ↑ a b Ward, Burns, Johnson, Simmons, Fairweather : Interactions Between Tourists and the Natural Environment ... . 2000, p.  25 .
  6. ↑ Topo250 maps - Taupo - Hawke Bay . Land Information New Zealand , accessed March 25, 2017 .
  7. ^ A b Lloyd : The hot springs and hydrothermal eruptions of Waiotapu . 1959, p.  142-143 .
  8. ↑ a b newsletter . (PDF 13.6 MB) Te Arawa Group Holdings , March 2014, accessed on March 25, 2017 .
  9. ↑ a b c d Wai-O-Tapu Guide Map , which is distributed to visitors during a tour. Status: March 2017
  10. ^ A b Lloyd : The hot springs and hydrothermal eruptions of Waiotapu . 1959, p.  152-153 .
  11. ↑ a b Lady Knox Geyser . Te Arawa Group Holdings , accessed March 25, 2017 .

Coordinates: 38 ° 21 ′ 21 ″  S , 176 ° 22 ′ 4 ″  E