Wai-o-tapu, Waimangu, and Wingspan: The 3 W's of Rotorua

This is my third full day in Rotorua and I absolutely love it here. This town is so lovely, the people are incredibly nice, and there is a ton to see in the area. It probably has a lot to do with the hostel that I’m staying at – the Funky Green Voyager. This is without a doubt the best hostel I’ve ever stayed in. The staff – Leslie and Andy – are some of the nicest and most helpful people I’ve met. Leslie knew I was showing up with a broken ankle, so she made sure that I had a bottom bunk in one of the rooms (it’s a triple, so $1 more expensive than the dorm, but that’s enough to deter most people, so I’ve had it to myself). She and Andy have helped book all of my daily activities, and since it’s done through the hostel I’ve gotten slight discounts on everything. They have great recommendations and check in at the end of each day to find out how I liked everything. I wanted to go to the Wingspan Bird of Prey Centre (see below), which is not a typical activity for tourists, but Leslie went ahead and checked with a shuttle company recommended by the iSite, as well as the taxi company, to find the best deal for me. The hostel is also in a really convenient location – quiet but close to downtown. I can’t imagine a better experience than this one, so after my first five days of travel it looks like it’s all downhill from here. :-P

On Tuesday (my first day in Rotorua) I chose to go to Wai-o-tapu and Waimangu geothermal areas. My shuttle picked me up right outside my hostel and took me to Wai-o-tapu. I only had 1.5 hours before the shuttle would come back to take me to Waimangu, so I kind of had to book it. Most of the walk was on a boardwalk with occasional stairs, so I was able to move along quick enough. I had to cut out a couple of things (the waterfall at the very end and some other out-and-back things, rather than the main loops), but I got to see most of it and it was all pretty stunning. I thought of it as the Yellowstone of New Zealand – lots of dramatic views and features. A couple of my favorite features were the Artist’s Palette and the Devil’s Bath. The Artist’s Palette reminds me of that huge rainbow pool at Yellowstone, but you can’t ever really get a good view of that from above. This one had a nice little platform that overlooked the whole thing, so that was really cool. The Devil’s Bath was this bright nuclear-waste-green pool that just seemed so unreal. The pictures don’t really do it justice, but the contrast between it and the bright blue sky was crazy. We also went to see the Lady Knox geyser erupt. This was really weird, because Yellowstone has Old Faithful with eruptions predicted to 10-minute periods, but Lady Knox is a geyser that they induce with a surfactant, which changes the surface temperature. Apparently 100 years ago a group of prisoners was washing their clothes near this geyser, and the soap they used caused it to erupt. Now every day at 10am they drop some soap-like stuff in there to put on a show. Anyways, I managed to get back to the visitor’s center with 20 minutes to spare, so I had my first ever mince beef and cheese pie. It was good! Meat pies are where it’s at; they are filling and super cheap. It’s lunch for under $3USD.

The Artist's Palette

Lady Knox geyser starting
to froth before the eruption

The Devil's Bath

After Wai-o-tapu I went to Waimangu Volcanic Valley. There was still a lot of geothermal activity in Waimangu, but the place seemed much more nature-oriented, whereas Wai-o-tapu goes for the wow-factor. But both were great in their own ways. I wandered down through the valley checking out the various features. There were a lot of benches and open areas, so it seemed like the perfect place for a picnic. Thank god for the benches, because I was starting to realize that the key to my happiness on this vacation is going to be staying on top of my pain meds, especially on heavy walking days, which I had not done that day. This was the most walking I’d done since breaking my ankle, and I was definitely feeling it. My low point was when I had to take a break halfway DOWN a flight of stairs. I felt like I’d aged 50 years, especially when a couple in their 50s-60s passed me after taking the more strenuous route! For crying out loud...

Not amused at being beaten by stairs halfway down

Anyways, this place was much better for viewing the wildlife, namely birds. I got a few good views along the walk, but I wish I had hobbled a little more purposefully and gotten to the end a bit earlier – there was a great bird watching area on the lake where you could see a bunch of different bird species. (I'll post bird pictures when I get around to looking up the names.) But I still got to enjoy it before catching the shuttle back to the visitor’s center. The driver offered a free 30-minute tour of the city, so I stuck around for that. It ended up lasting nearly 2 hours, which was a nice gesture, but I was also pretty tired and just wanted to go back to my hostel. But I saw some cool sights and got a little bit of history, so it was okay.

Two little NZ falcon chicks

Wednesday was a much lighter day, which was really nice. Leslie booked my trip to Wingspan Bird of Prey Centre for the afternoon, so I wandered into town to mail some extra clothes to my house in Australia, shop for a New Zealand bird guide, and grab some brunch. I was successful on all three counts, so it was a good morning. At noon I took a shuttle up to Wingspan. The people there were incredibly friendly. I was immediately rushed over to check out a pair of New Zealand falcon chicks that were just finishing getting fed. The couple of employees I talked to seemed happy to have a bird enthusiast visiting, and they were impressed by my work with Andean condors. They were also very informative about their birds and the center. After that I had about 1.25 hours until their flight demonstration at 2pm. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but it turns out I had plenty of time to kill. I walked through the aviary and checked out every bird they had. It was kind of nice that I had so much time because I could take lots of pictures and just watch the birds. There were many New Zealand falcons, three Australasian harriers, a few Moreporks, and the only captive Barn Owl in New Zealand (it was rescued from some kind of accident but had to have one of its wings amputated, so it obviously can’t survive in the wild). Some of the birds were just doing their own thing (or sleeping, in the case of the owls), but a few of the falcons were like puppies in a pet store – they kept hopping around in the front of their cages like they were trying to get a good look at me. After that I still had about 45 minutes to kill, so I wandered up the road to check out the hatchery that one of the staffers told me about. Unfortunately it was just a bit longer than I anticipated, so by the time I got there, I had about five minutes before I had to turn around. It’s a good thing I did, because when I got back more tourists had shown up and they had one of the falcons out for people to hold and feed! Her name was… I don’t even know how to spell it. It sounds like “my right eye”, but slurred together. She stood on my arm and ate meat off my glove, and then immediately perched on my head. Pretty cool!

Atareta checking me out

Check out Mojo's bell (above his tail)

At that point they started the flight demonstration. They brought out two birds over the course of an hour – Atareta and Mojo. Atareta was stunning and really well trained (she was one of the puppy-in-the-window birds). She flies really well in breeze, and it was a bit windy that day which was perfect. She flew all around and would come in to chase the falconer’s lure, which he would pull away at the last second. He did this a few times until she went up really high to do her nose dive, and then he let her grab it. They did this a few times, and then he let us have her eat from our glove. The second bird to come out was Mojo. He was also well trained, but he liked to be more of a “cheeky bastard”. Every time he got his food rewards, he shot off into the tall trees behind the center. He did this partly so we wouldn’t steal it from him (he was rescued as a chick and raised at the center, so he’s kind of imprinted on humans and doesn’t know if he’s a falcon or a human), and partly because he likes to take his trainer by surprise every time he starts swinging a new lure around for him. The trainer would swing it around and call him in, but Mojo would hide in the trees and actually pay attention to which direction the trainer was looking, so when he turned away THAT’S when Mojo would fly in and try to get the lure. Since he disappears into the trees so often they attach a bell to him to help them figure out where he is. Apparently only once did he take off and not return until the next morning. But in 25 years they have only had one falcon fly off and never return. Pretty good!

INCOMING!!

The flight demonstrations are obviously for education and outreach, but the center also functions as a rehab center and captive breeding program. Many of the birds that they have were injured (broken wings, shot, hit by cars, etc) and are unable to be released in the wild. A number of others were raised or rescued as chicks, but they imprinted on humans and so are also unable to be released (like Mojo). These birds are either advocacy birds that participate in the flight demonstrations, or they are involved in the captive breeding program. They are much more successful at releasing chicks into the wild when they are born in pairs, like the ones that I saw (that way they imprint on each other rather than humans). Feel free to check out their website (http://www.wingspan.co.nz/index.html) if you want to learn more or donate to a good cause!

I chatted with a couple of the staff members before leaving, and as my shuttle was about to pull away one of the women ran back out to give me their most recent magazine. Super nice of them to do! They really are amazing people. Speaking of amazing people, my shuttle driver joins the growing list (maybe everyone in New Zealand is just amazing…). She worked for a company called Grumpy’s, but she was anything but that. She picked me up at my hostel 10 minutes early, which seems unheard of for shuttle companies. She was very friendly and gave me some suggestions of things to see/do in town and answered my random questions about New Zealand. She showed up at Wingspan around 2:50 but waited a good 10-15 minutes until the demonstration was over and I had chatted with the staff. She seemed pretty interested in the birds and was asking me all about the center. As if my day wasn’t good enough, when she dropped me off at the hostel I gave her a $50 and was digging around for the last $4 in coins, but she told me to not bother and that $50 was just fine. Super generous of her! And of course when I got inside, Andy and Leslie wanted to hear about Wingspan and how I liked it. What a great day.