Exploring a Hidden Valley of Geothermal Wonders at Orakei Korako

A pre-geothermal park eel feeding

We park up and head on over to reception which just happens to have a cafe. In that case, we’ll wait a while with a hot beverage in hand and see if the rain decides to die down anytime soon. Not only do we have the awesome view of the large terraces dividing the forest from across the water, but the cafe staff also give us an eel-feeding show. They throw food out of the window of the riverside cafe, attracting tens of wriggling eels out of their hiding holes.

A journey across the water to the terraces

Well, the rain seems to have slowed down a tiny bit, so we hop on the shuttle boat which transports visitors across the Waikato River to the geothermal park every five minutes on demand. As soon as we land at the jetty on the other side, the rain comes down hard again, so we conclude that we can’t beat it. Not that it matters as our legs are instantly kept warm from the steam rising beneath the boardwalk. Our senses are overcome by the unusual landscape, so that we don’t care about the rain anymore. Tiny streams of red and yellow streaks make their way toward the river, walls of geysers spurt out hot water in regular intervals, birds dive down to catch the insects bathing in the hot water. There is so much going on!

The first lookout over the geothermal wonders

Lookouts, geysers, forest, terraces and all sorts of colours!

We follow a well-formed and signposted series of tracks and boardwalks around the geothermal area, taking us across terraces and up to lookouts giving us a whole new perspective of what we just walked across. From above, we can see all sorts of colourful patterns in the terraces of white, yellow and red. We’re also amazed by how abundant the vegetation is around the geothermal area, thinking that surely such a volcanic zone would kill off all the trees. Yet, we see heaps of native birds flying from tree fern to tree fern which have been all the more greener from the rain.

The next terrace we walk across then get a view of is called “The Artist’s Palette” to show an inky-coloured terrace dotted with clear blue bubbling hot springs and more lines of red and yellow.

The Ruatapu Cave and mesmerising bubbling mud

We now follow signposts to Ruatapu Cave, taking us down some steps engulfed in forest leading to a lookout over a huge cave with a pool of blue water at the bottom. The area is so vast, it creates another “wow” moment for us. From there, we link back to the main track which is taking us on a loop back to the jetty via some bubbling mud pools. The first pool is a watery pool of perfectly-shaped bubbles, then we move onto a thick mud pool which is heaps more mesmerising. The viscosity of the mud brings along a glooping sound with each bubble formed and popped. We stand here for way too long just staring at the hypnotic bubbling mud, as well as all the rings created after the bubble has popped.