These area's can be fantastically active with dazzling colours caused by the different minerals and unusual algae's and mosses that can grow in this environment.

There are several geothermal power stations in the North Island that use steam to generate electricity. Wairakei Power Station - completed in 1958 - just north of Taupo was the only the second geothermal powered station to be built in the world. The bores that extract the steam from the ground are generally between 600 and 1200 meters deep. Wairakei produces approximately 3% of New Zealand's electricity. Unfortunately the power station has destroyed 2 superb geyser fields by lowering the water table.