ROTORUA:
One of the world's most concentrated and accessible geothermal areas, and a big tourist destination.
Home to the Arawa people, believed to have come from the Polynesian homelands of Hawaiki in the 14th century, the Maoris settled here around the lake using the hottest pools for cooking and bathing, and building their houses on warm ground to combat the winter chill.
In the 19th century European tourists, as well as New Zealanders, flocked to bathe in the natural pools formed in the Pink and White Terraces, until the Terraces were engulfed and destroyed in an enormous volcanic eruption in 1886.
The journey to Rotorua was about three hours including the obligatory coffee stop at Te Puke !! Apparently Te Puke is the Kiwi Fruit Capital of the World!!
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| It is OK Sue was not the driver.. |
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| Just in case you don't believe us |
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| The coffee shop, no sign of Elvis though. |
This was going to be our first experience of pre-booked accomodation, albeit recommended by the 'Rough Guide', and we wondered how 'Cosy Cottages' was going to stack up. We had nothing to fear....
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| Our wooden shed come Cosy Cottage |
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| Very comfortable with two beds, shower room/WC and Fridge and Cooking Facilities |
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| This was an outside cooking facility using the thermal activity underground |
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| River view from the site |
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| Picnic Tables on Site |
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| Wildlife or are we supposed to eat these?? |
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| Swimming Pool on site heated by the thermal activity underground |
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| Steam rising from the thermal activity in a neighbouring garden |
Government House is surrounded by a quintessentially English garden (forgetting the abundant tropical plants)....
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| And we arrived in time to see a game of bowls |
Around the gardens are thermal springs and pools
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| Water lilies thriving in a thermally heated pool |
Still in the grounds....
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| We didn't go for a swim but met someone later that evening who had and who sang its praises. |
Inside the House we joined a guided tour led by a local and very knowledgable guide, Angela. We all had earpieces and a transmitter, so we could hear her, and she alarmingly told us that they would not function for more than a couple of months because of the sulphur in the air. Mobile phones, cameras, TVs and computers all have a very limited life in Rotorua. It makes you wonder what the atmosphere is doing to your lungs if you stay there too long!
The museum is in the original Bath House. People would visit twice a year for the therapeutic properties in the water, especially good for arthritis. But as you can see in the pictures, the tiles deteriorated badly from the sulphur and eventually the visitors stopped coming as the place looked increasingly tatty. Anxious to make enough money to keep the Bath House open, the locals in the 1960s and 1970s decided to reopen the building as a nightclub! The profits from this were eventually ploughed into setting up the current museum.
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| Some VERY scary treatments involving electricity and all sorts of wires and pipes were used! |
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| Yes, that IS a black swan. |
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| There are a number of boat trips you can take, including to the island of Mokoia, the romantic setting for the tale of the two lovers, Hinemoa and Tutanekai. |
Where you would expect to see flower beds in a park, in Kurai Park there are thermal springs. Some local houses have had to be pulled down and the council is anxious for other residents to move out as the area is deemed too dangerous and unpredictable for domestic habitation.
To round-off a busy day we had to sample the local Italian fare at the busy Nuovali restaurant.
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