Log in
Join travelers community
Your Profile
Logout
The day started early as vaguely planned and we set off towards Lady Knox; a dramatic geyser in New Zealand's largest thermal valley, just outside of Rotorua.<br/><br/>
Lady Knox's Spurt
Ricklivesey2006-01-05 19:43:36
Displayed times (last time: )
The day started early as vaguely planned and we set off towards Lady Knox; a dramatic geyser in New Zealand's largest thermal valley, just outside of Rotorua.
Seated in the outside auditorium, at 10.15 on the dot, a guy came on 'stage' and explained that the geyser's erruption was induced using common biodegradable soap powder - a trick discovered by the Mauri's a long time ago whilst they were washing their clothes in the hot water. In went a few cubes of Persil Automatic and within seconds she was foaming at the mouth and gradually accellerating into a spectacular 3m heigh spurt!
We left after five mins, not waiting for the full hour-long performance - apologies your Ladyship. After a quick rush around the thermal park, we set off for Waitomo Caves, a small town renound - funnily enough - for it's extensive caving network.
Just after midday we arrived and booked ourselves in with the 'Rap, Raft and Rock' company and within the hour we were kitted-out and abseiling down into a dark cavern, ending up in an underground stream, sloshing around in our wetsuits, wellies and hard-hats, walking through waist-deep water, past 4-foot long eels, climbing over grags, squeezing through ridiculously small
pot holes and into a constellation of glow-worm lined caves. Amazing.
It just got better: walking upstream through in the pitch-blackness, holding onto the person in front, with only the glow-worms to guide us, until it came time to board our huge rubber inner tubes and drift lazily downstream on the current. Wicked.
See photographs from:
New Zealand Gallery
