Just realised I have been spelling Waimangu wrong. Its an 'u' at the end not an 'a'. Hope you haven't been trying to find it on a map! Anyway...... we rejoined the path in the valley bottom and it led a meandering course through tall grasses, reeds and shrubs to the silica terraces. First we passed this unusual steam vent which also has a boiling water spring and heat resistant flora and fauna. The path now follows the stream from the craters higher up the valley and rises cutting through the soft ash to give a view over the silica terraces which are being formed by silica washing out of the the hot spring in the distance. We could see it periodically bubbling up but of course each time we got a camera out it subsided. We tootled on, parallel to the stream until we reached a wooden footbridge crossing the stream and taking us in to native forest. This is where the turn off for the loos is situate within the rift valley left by the eruption of 1886. It starts within the forest where you cross a fresh water stream, with water cress and long fronds of algae and other temperate plants, then leaves and flows in to a natural amphitheatre which has picnic tables both outside and in the shade, and the all important toilets.
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