New Zealand - Rotorua

Sulphur Bay
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Hello from New Zealand....... not Fiji where we thought we'd be. This is due to Fiji selfishly being hit by Tropical Storms and suffering flooding along with power and communication blackouts. This added to the Fiji government declaring a 'state of natural disaster' we decided not to go - probably for the best! As a result we are in New Zealand now for 9 weeks instead of 7.

After a few days in Auckland planning what to do for the extra 2 weeks we decided to head to Rotorua which is an active geothermal area with natural hot springs, geysers, mud pools and volcanic landscape and is known as the 'Geothermal Wonderland of New Zealand'. So all was good and as Geographers we were much looking forward to our stay here...... however there is one major problem with the geothermal and volcanic delights - IT STINKS!! The copious amounts of sulphur being pumped out of the ground means that the area smells of rotten eggs and has led to the area having the nickname of 'Rotten Rotorua' which is well deserved in our opinion!

Rotten Rotorua

Lake Rotorua - Mokoia Island
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After trying and failing to acclimatise to the smell we decided to brave it anyway and went for a walk around Sulphur Bay at the southern edge of Lake Rotorua. The volcanic landscape is incredible and it felt like we were on a different planet with steam coming out of the ground, bubbling mud and boiling pools of water. The vegetation around vents was bleached white or coloured black from the heat and sulphur. After walking around the lake we headed to Kuirau Park which has more geothermal areas in the city centre with huge amounts of steam coming off the pools of water and more bubbling mud and water. The stench in the park was vile though and we wondered how the locals could live with it, we assume that they would just get used to it.

Kuirau Park
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On Friday we caught the local bus to the Skyline Gondola which took us up the hills for amazing views of the lake and photo opportunities. The Skyline also had 3 luge tracks for people to go on of varying difficulties of Scenic, Intermediate and Advanced. The luge was really good fun and they were surprisingly stable which meant we were able to fly down the tracks at a good speed. Teresa also decided to be brave at the luge and really enjoyed it - even catching some air going over a bump on the advanced track!

Kuirau Park
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In the evening we went to a Free BBQ at the Lava Bar which was a deck party for backpackers in Rotorua which promoted the activities in the area which had a FREE BAR!! So our plan of just buying a few drinks to watch the budget went out the window as it would have been rude not to get drunk for free!

On Saturday we were up early (Teresa slightly hungover) and went to 'Te Puia' which is a geothermal area that also had a traditional Maori village where we were able to see traditional arts and crafts being carried out such as weaving with Flax (a local plant), carving and traditional dances such as the 'female Poi dance' and the 'Haka'. We were then taken on a tour of the area and saw some more bubbling mud pools and the Pohutu Geyser which 'erupts' about 2 times an hour shooting water up to 15ft into the air which was really impressive. While at Te Puia we also saw a real life Kiwi (bird) which was good although it was a lot bigger than we thought.

View of Lake Rotorua from top of Skyline
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In the evening we had booked an 'Indigenous Cultural Experience' at the Mitai Maori Village just outside of Rotorua. Here we experienced the arrival of 'Maori warriors' in a Waka (warrior canoe) before watching a cultural display where we were shown more traditional dances along with displays of how to use traditional Maori weapons followed by a very energetic rendition of Haka which was impressive. After the show we enjoyed a traditional Hangi Feast which was of lamb, chicken, potato, Kumara (sweet potato) that was cooked in the ground for 3 hours. There was loads of food and we piled our plates high to make the most of it.

Luge Track
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After the feast we were taken on a night time bush walk around the village to see the bubbling crystal clear spring and also the glow worms in the trees which gave off a cool blue glow until some dozy latinos decided to take a picture of the glow worms with a flash and proceeded to shine their torches on them to get a better view (we were told by the guide that glow worms don't glow when lights are shone on them!). The whole evening was really good though and the meal was worth the price on its own (NZ$75 for the evening including transport).

On the Luge
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We head to Waitomo Caves next where Teresas new found bravery (and apparently cured claustrophobia) has led to us booking a trip where we will be abseiling, caving, blackwater rafting and climbing.

Until next time,

Barney & Teresa x