Wai-O-Tapu's Artist's Palette, Then a Bath in the Same Chemistry at Polynesian Spa

Two ways of meeting geothermal water in one day. In the morning you look at it, in the afternoon you sit in it. Wai-O-Tapu is the looking. The Champagne Pool holds an orange and green rim that comes from the minerals settling out of it, and the Artist's Palette next to it takes its colours from the same source. Boiling mud, steaming fumaroles and sinter terraces sit along the tracks, and information boards explain what is happening underneath rather than leaving it as scenery. The Polynesian Spa is the sitting. It draws two waters: alkaline pools, mild enough to stay in for a long time, and acidic springs, which feel completely different. Both come from deep under Rotorua. The pools face Lake Rotorua with forest behind it. The drive is the honest part of the arithmetic: about three and a half hours each way from Auckland, with a stop for lunch in Rotorua on the way through. Cancel at least 24 hours before departure for a full refund.