Wairakei Thermal Park…

Last updated on 4 May 2016

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This place was totally an accidental find. On our way from Napier, to Auckland last month, we saw a sign off the road for a Thermal Park. Purely out of curiosity, we drove down the road and discovered this place: Wairakei Thermal Park. It was the most random, hilarious, and awesome place ever.

We drove up, we saw that it was some sort of camping ground, but then they had about 20 hutches with cute fluffy rabbits in them…and then a little paddock with a pig, and another with 3 alpacas, some sheep and a whole lot of chickens. We wondered what the heck we had stumbled upon. There was a little café, and when we went in, we decided to go n the Thermal walk that was advertised. It was about $10 each ($5 for kids), and while it was a little expensive for what it was, it was a lot of fun.

We wandered down a path that led to a whole lot of thermal hot springs, something that’s not unusual in NZ. They had awesome names like ‘Witch’s Cauldron’ and ‘Dragon’s Mouth’, and while it didn’t take long, it was a nice break from the car. They also provided you with a laser gun thing, that you could point and shoot at a steaming hole in the ground and it would tell you how hot it was.

So that was the thermal park. Because we had such a fun time with the animals in the park too (there were peacocks!), I’ll share those pictures soon, so look out for that!