The Hidden Valley of Orakei Korako

We landed at Orakei Korako and took a short boat ride across the lake to the hot springs, geysers and just all around natural beauty of the geothermal park. It's tucked away, and hard to access, so coming here by float plane was really ideal. There weren't many other people there, and we were able to walk the whole area (with lots and lots of stairs) in about an hour.

What was most striking to me was the difference between this geothermal park, in contrast to Volcano National Park in Hawaii. Where Hawaii's volcano park was black, full of lava rock and stark of any greenery, this park was white, colorful, and filled with interesting vegetation. It was a very beautiful and really neat hike.

here's a shot of the same area that we had just toured from our float plane.