The Waimangu Volcanic Valley is about 30 minutes from Rotorua by car. It prides itself in being one of the world’s most recent volcanic attractions, because the whole valley was created during a volcanic eruption in the late 19th century. There used to be a geysir, but sadly it has dried out for no known reason whatsoever. The whole walk is about 4.5 km and takes a bit more than an hour. There was also the possibility to go hiking in the area.
The valley consist of several thermal lakes or pools, that are all connected and belong to the same volcanic system. For example, if the water level rises in one lake, it drops in the other. The colors of the lakes are very dependant on the weather and on the point of the termal circle they are currently in, so we saw the so called “Emerald lake” in a rather brown color.
Sadly, it was raining all day we were there, otherwise we would have been able to see more lakes.
