The tour departs daily between 8:00-8:30 am. from your accommodation and drives you through forestry and farmland to New Zealand’s largest boiling mud pool. Your guide shows you a series of colorful hot springs and volcanic features at Wai-O-Tapu. Then see the Lady Knox geyser eruption at 10:15 am.
Next a short drive to the Waimangu Volcanic Valley where your guide explains the Mt. Tarawera eruption which blew open this spectacular, bush-covered, geothermal park.
Spend the afternoon experiencing Rotorua’s Maori culture and geothermal activity and see how they are intricately entwined. First, a guided tour through Te Puia, Rotorua’s premier cultural attraction. This includes a visit to the wood carving school, art and craft gallery, Rotowhio Marae, weaving display, kiwi house and finally the Pohutu geyser.
Next, we visit the Lakefront area to see the Maori War Canoe and learn more about Maori history and customs.
Posted By : Kai_Wah
We booked Eco-Thermal Full Day Tour which included Geothermal hot springs and volcanic features at Wai-O-Tapu, Lady Knox Geyser Eruption and Waimangu. The landscapes at Wai-O-Tapu and Waimangu are breathtaking with informative narration provided by our Tour Guide, Linda. Linda is very knowledgeable, witty and friendly. It was a super fun tour to be guided by Linda who explained details clearly and provided lots of interesting information about Rotorua, geological history about the sites, plus the floras and faunas along trip.
Unfortunately, our second half of the tour to Te Puia Maori Cultural Village and geothermal activity was cancelled due to shortage of staff. We were informed by Elite Adventures a day prior to the tour. The company has good initiative to replace the program with Whakarewarewa Māori Cultural Village. Personally, the Whakarewarewa Māori Cultural Village was underwhelming to me as the guided tour was merely based on oral narration which we didn’t get to see any cultural performance at all. We were also brought to Whakarewarewa Redwoods Forest to have a glimpse of the Redwood Pine Trees, plus driving along two lakes at Rotorua.
Despite we were disappointed with the cancellation of Te Puia Māori Culture Village, we were having good time visiting to the Geothermal Park at Wai-O-Tapu and Waimangu. We are still very happy with the service provided by Elite Adventure for their good initiative to replace the program with some alternatives even though the cancellation of the tour at Te Puia is beyond their control. They even initiated partial refund to us due the cancellation of Te Puia Tour. Special thanks to Linda who made our tour in Rotorua exceptionally memorable and fun!
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Posted On : 2023-12-08 07:54:06 
Posted By : E3436ZKjuliab
I initially hesitated about spending a full day out in the field and did not regret one minute of it! Our group was small and intimate, allowing us to have many deep conversations ranging from the land to the peoples. I was grateful for our tour guide's in depth knowledge, professionalism, and hospitality.
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Posted On : 2023-09-09 12:54:31
Posted By : nrhaisen
Our guide, Brian, was so knowledgeable about not only the geology, but also the cultural aspects, the ecosystems, and how everything fit together. The thermal pools and the geyser were beautiful. We then spent time at Tu Puia, watching the very skilled craftsmen and learning more about Maori culture. Brian, with his Maori heritage, obviously loves and respects the culture, as well as the natural world. It was a fun, awe inspiring day.
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Posted On : 2020-02-12 23:05:19
Posted By : AnotherPhillip
We just got back from a full day tour with Trent.
He took us out on a fun and informative tour of Wai-o-Tapu, Te Puia, as well as some other spots around Rotorua.
If you’re in Rotorua, you can’t miss going to see the geothermal features. Boiling mud, geysers, strange colored steaming, bubbling streams, lakes, and craters…. Having someone who knows what you’re looking at makes it all significantly better.
Our afternoon visit to Te Puia was equally amazing. More geothermal fun was the least of it. Getting a small taste of some Maori culture, and seeing their master carvers work were fascinating. Having it explained to you by a Maori was even better.
He not only had his rote bits about each stop down, but was able to answer a wide range of questions about those areas, Rotorua in general, and New Zealand history and culture. He was a fun and boisterous guide, our best guided tour we had in New Zealand.
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Posted On : 2019-12-30 23:59:25
Posted By : Venture51265603143
My tour was great. It ended up raining the whole day, and I was the only one on the tour, so Brian let me pick the things I wanted to do that day. He was very knowledgeable, entertaining, and made the tour a lot of fun.
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Posted On : 2019-10-24 17:12:08 
