The Wonders of Wairakei Valley

Progress, Volume IX, Issue 2, 1 October 1913, Page 724

The Wonders of Wairakei Valley

Leaving Waiotapu after lunch, we went by motor to Wairaki, traversing the distance in two hours. On our arrival at the Geyser House Hotel, we had a refreshing cup of tea in the lounge, before a blazing fire of logs. Then, thoroughly warmed and refreshed, we explored the shrubberies and avenues surrounding the hotel, and were specially interested in the out-of-doors swimming pool. It is 90 feet long, and at a temperature of lOOdeg. Fahrenheit. Exquisite weeping willows wave overhead, mingling their foliage with trailing clematis and tall grasses on the bank. The morning after our arrival we visited the celebrated Geyser Valley, which is situated about a mile from the hotel. The pathway to the valley is bordered by beautifully wooded banks, and carpeted with ferns and velvety moss. Dense clouds of steam in the valley made us aware of the fact that we were approaching the geyser region, accentuated by mysterious noises we heard, caused by rushing waters and escaping steam. Nowhere else are so many marvellous sights, clustered so closely together. Within an area of a few acres can be seen no less than ten geysers, innumerable springs, limpid pools, mud volcanoes, and curious terrace formations. Weird sounds can be heard resembling the thud of a steam hammer, the steady rotation of paddle wheels, briskly boiling mud, and imprisoned waters lashing furiously within rocky walls, from which they finally escape with a roar. CHAMPAGNE CAULDRON Most impressive of all the sights is the Champagne Cauldron, so named because of the exquisite sparkle of its ever-boiling contents. The cauldron is 83 feet deep, and from 60 to 80 feet wide. It is filled with water of a clear transparent blue, with scarcely a ripple disturbing its surface when we glanced into its depths. However, the guide called our attention to two little geysers which were playing by themselves on the edge of the cauldron, scattering spray, which sparkled like diamonds in the sunshine. Then we noticed bubbles appearing on the clear surface of the pool, as though fairy sprites below were longing to join the geysers in their play. But the latter were soon overwhelmed, as the bubbles boiled up higher and higher with a deafening uproar, immersing us in dense clouds of scalding steam. By this time the water churned into dazzling foam rose higher and higher, until it formed an enormous frothing pyramid, from out of which huge effervescing waves were flung in torrents down to the Wairakei stream below. Our shadows thrown on the steam clouds could be distinctly traced, increasing or decreasing in size as the clouds approached or receded. Moreover, each one of us found our heads adorned with an aureole, but we could only see our own, those of our neighbours being invisible. At first sight, we imagined we were alone in our glory, but we were quickly disillusioned. THE CREAT WAIRAKEI Higher up the valley we came to the Great Wairakei Geyser, a truly magnificent sight. At

intervals of about eight minutes, the water in the triangular-shaped crater suddenly becomes violently agitated, and volumes of steam are ejected sometimes to a height of fifteen feet, the whole eruption lasting about four minutes. The lip of the crater is covered with coraline fawn-tinted sinter, over which the boiling water flows into the creek below. At the side of the crater, beyond reach of the steam, vegetation grows thick and green. A bench on a tiny islet is provided for those who wish to watch the Great Wairakei at leisure, and while awaiting the display a regular throbbing sound, suggestive of a steam engine, attracts one's attention. It proceeds from a small pool on the left bank of the stream, which has been called the Donkey Engine. It is an intermittent geyser, quiescent while the Great Wairakei is performing, but resuming its puff, puff, the moment its neighbour ceases, as though the two were connected underground. Exactly seven minutes after the last eruption, the Great Wairakei does its "turn," and the Donkey Engine stops throbbing. OTHER WONDERS OF WAIRAKEI Limited space makes it impossible to dwell on the other sights along the main track, which winds up and down the banks, and over rustic bridges across the stream, but they are arranged in the following order:—Fairy Baths, Dragon's Mouth, Lightning Pool, Black Geyser, White Springs, Mud Volcanoes, Old Terrace, Eagle's Nest, Grierson Bower, Fairy Geyser, the Boilers, the Whistle, where the guide provided entertainment by placing bottles of assorted sizes near a small hole in the ground, resulting in whistling noises of more or less intensity, the Prince of Wales' Feathers, the Twins, the Red Geyser, the Petrifying Geyser, the Steam Hammer, and the Funnel. Each had its own peculiarity, and in many cases its own charm; some were fearful, others wonderful and awe-inspiring, but over all is something which makes one realise why a visitor christened this spot "Witching Wairakei," for "it is probably the place on which the memory dwells most affectionately in after days." .... THE ARA-TIA-TIA RAPIDS During the afternoon we were taken for a drive to the Ara-tia-tia Eapids, which • are about three miles from the Geyser Hotel. It is hard to find words to aptly describe this sight. The broad expanse of blue water, pouring down in a massive flood, then struggling to force its way through a narrow pass, whirling, eddying, till it takes a wild plunge oyer a huge rock in its downward path Then it joins the stately river 150 yards across, until once more it rushes through banks 50 feet apart, and is forced into three channels by two rocky inlets it encounters on the way. Ziz-zagsins through a narrow pass, it flows on again into a lake of translucent blue.