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Rotorua Slideshow
Travel Blogs from Rotorua, New Zealand
Whine without the wine. (An 'Oh No' day)
This is a top pick! ... ready for camping in the next few days (i.e. buying jumpers!) and using the internet. Emma is working at one of New Zealand's polling stations today for the general election so we make her and Carl dinner in the evening (and Carl says it's ...
Our Indigenous Cultural Experience
This is a top pick! ... our next destination and irrespective of the weather we would spend a bit of time taking in some Maori culture. Rotorua is New Zealand's most dynamic thermal area with spurting geysers, steaming hot springs and exploding mud pools. The drive from Taupo ...
Smells, locals and birds
This is a top pick! Stinky would be the best way to describe Rotorua. Due to its location on a thermal hotspot it has a rather eggy smell about it which at some points was rather overwhelming. Nevertheless we had a really good couple of days in the area, although ...
Evil smells!
This is a top pick! ... nose against his friend's, as opposed to our more formal hand shake. He seemed genuinely interested in where I was from and why I chose New Zealand, and so far this has been the case with most of the Kiwis I have encountered on my travels. Sweet as! ...
Feeling Hot Hot Hot
This is a top pick! ... night it was. It’s not often in your life you will see such a thing when you live in GB however, being in New Zealand at a campsite by a lake with very little in artificial light for a few miles around we were treated to a spectacle of probably ...
Dec 18, 2011
This is a top pick! 
What is that smell?
This is a top pick! ... the bus and made a few more stops before we got to Rotorua, at the bungee zone, and a working Maori village, where we got a tour. Rotorua is smelly. It has all sorts of geothermal activity and hot springs and geysers. So it smells. Bad. But got used to it ...
Phew, what a stinker!
This is a top pick! ... for fresh air, uttering the odd "you minger!", but then the smell got worse. In fact, we had arrived at one of New Zealand's most geothermally active regions, and that rotten egg smell that we were detecting was sulphur. An apology was issued to Kevin ...
Rotorua
This is a top pick! Enjoying breakfast overlooking Lake Taupo in much finer weather than the previous day, we at least got a strong whiff of the sulphur (i.e. rotten eggs) the region is famous for! The smell only got stronger once inside Waiotapu Thermal ...
On the Road South
This is a top pick! ... the time. I met a girl named Mimi from Sweden on my first stop in Opanoni, and I've run into her 3 times since, lastly in Rotorua. I can't tell you how awesome it is to be in a country halfway around the world and have somebody call out your name. This ...
Rotorua
This is a top pick! ... to Trish and Sally as we all checked into separate hostels and went our separate ways afterward. The first thing that hits you about Rotorua is the sulphur smell, i.e. rotten eggs, fortunately you soon get used to it. The second thing to hit us was the ...
Rotorua, smelly farts country!
This is a top pick! ... ! A tad expensive at $35 for one go but worth it for the buzz, it was hilarious and we were thoroughly drenched after it! After our couple of days in Rotorua is was time for the final bus back to Auckland, our last stop on the entire New Zealand ...
On to The Stinky City
This is a top pick! ... of buildings decorated in corrugated iron. The highlight being the sheep and the dog tourist info centre. We then headed over to Rotorua where we were greeted with a lovely sulphur smell, lots of thermal pools around there you see. 7th August ...
Maori Culture
This is a top pick! Kia Ora! It was the Maori greeting that welcomed us to Rotorua, a cultural hubbub of the Maori in New Zealand. Here the tourist is able to visit replicas of traditional villages and catch a glimpse of their culture. Kris picked us up at the plane at ...
Bay of Plenty
This is a top pick! ... out with the floor while we were there. At the drop of a hat, he could have had a job in either Australia or New Zealand doing flooring. Mercifully, the landscape in the Bay of Plenty is flatter than some we've driven through. Margaret lives on the ...
Back to Rotorua
This is a top pick! So, back in smelly Rotorua and we decided to go to a Hangi, a tradtional Maori entertainment night. They picked us up from the centre of town and brought us to thier Maori village, stuck us all in a big marquee with loads of food that they had cooked ...
Smelliest Town on Earth.....
This is a top pick! ... push it before your cart was about to flip. Great fun. Then we went to the Agrodome, which is basically a huge barn where New Zealanders boast about how lovely their sheep are and how talented their sheep dogs are, I have never laughed so hard. You ...
Driving south
This is a top pick! ... the road with a lamb on a leash but it didn't seem to attract any strange comments or finger pointing from passers by. Only in New Zealand I guess. Next stop: Taupo/Turangi - I'm planning to complete the Tongariro Crossing either tomorrow or ...
Thermal spa
This is a top pick! ... falls on our way through. After debating whether we should go on a river jet boat tour we decided that we would just go to Rotorua to go to 'Hells Gate’ geothermal spa and relax a little bit (because this trip is really starting to wear on us). We ...
A ball and ramp,naked tramp and a guide who's camp
This is a top pick! We woke up a little groggy thanking the lord we had bought bacon and eggs the night before. However we stood stunned as we overheard the Maori campers in one of the camp cabins yell to his friends "are you having a wine?" it was 7.10am. After a classic ...
Week Thirty Eight - Rotorua
This is a top pick! ... From there we followed the coast south as far as Whakatane and the lovely Ohope Beach where Elspeth used to live. We drove back to Rotorua via some of the many beautiful lakes surrounding the city as the sun began to fade. I think that my memory is fading ...
East Cape Tour
This is a top pick! ... began the long drive south east heading for the cape, I was reminded of the many weekend miles we have already covered in New Zealand. Something told me that this road trip was going to be just as eventful as the previous adventures. We drove through ...
Bubbling Away...
This is a top pick! Sunday 30th January 205 Drive to Rotorua today - pass some more pretty bays (New Zealand is full of beautiful scenery, everywhere you go). My guidebook was not joking - you really can smell the city before you arrive - it smells of rotten eggs, due to ...
Rotorua
This is a top pick! ... The sulphur smell is really bad and Chris struggled around heaving most the way!! This is a hot water waterfall! A visit to Rotorua is not complete without a cultural visit to a Maori village. We spent a few hours at Tamaki village and ...
Putting down a hangi - in southwest China
This is a top pick! I'm a Kiwi living a long way from New Zealand. I am in the process of building an outdoor pizza oven, and also hope to put down a hangi in my garden. There's a couple of good resources for making an earth oven underground, including quite a neat ...
Rain and lovely mountains
This is a top pick! ... sense of smell and obviously liked the smell of us! We didnt hang around though because it was FREEZING! The whole area around Rotorua is very thermally active as the earths crust is very thin here. Steam vents appear in the ground and boiling mud pools ...
Heading South
This is a top pick! ... The way back down was quick. We stopped and did a lot of hiking through rainforest to see the Kauri trees. They only grow in New Zealand, and think they have been there since the year of Jesus. The tree's are not too tall, but the trunks were massive ...
Bubbling Cauldren
This is a top pick! ... of mallards. First item on the agenda was a needed dose of culture, specifically a deeper look into the Maori of New Zealand. Although far from authentic, there are a number of packaged options available and we picked the Mitai Maori Village. The ...
Chapter 8: Glow-worms, and black water rafting.
This is a top pick! ... Rotorua at 5pm, and I checked into Wall Backpackers, which is a new & snazzy hostel downtown. Rotorua is the unofficial Maori culture capital of New Zealand, and it's also VERY geothermally active. There are steam vents randomly all around the city, ...