Whakarewarewa is both a time capsule and living space for the 27 families who cook, bathe, and live alongside the hot springs and geysers just as their ancestors did. After a tour by a maori guide you are free to explore the lakes surrounding the village. I ran into an English couple who had been on the tour returning from a lake I was headed to and asked them how they liked it….they lamented their inability to see the lake due to the thick steam rising from it….guess they didn’t get the memo on what constitutes a hot spring.
