Rotorua - a pong and dance
Trip Start
Nov 12, 2007
1
17
40
Trip End
Aug 01, 2008
Rotorua,
New Zealand
Monday, January 28, 2008
We were warned about the smell. Sulphur gases are constantly released all round the town giving a pungent bad egg smell. It never really goes away. You get used to it but every now and again it really hits you.
As you walk into town through the main park there are hot springs and boiling mud pools.A very strange sight. Emma even made use of the free hot spring foot spa.
There are a few thermal attractions and by far the best was Wai o Tapo a little south of town. There are some amazing features and a very strange landscape that takes about 1.5hrs to walk round. The highlight is the Champagne Pool and Artist's Palate. The pool is oval shaped a champagne colour steaming constantly with orange banks sitting in an area that has been bleached white. To the side the Artist's Palate contains many unworldly colours presumably because of the minerals. The whole area is like another planet with strange colours weird land shapes steaming springs and bubbling mud.
There is also the Lady Knox Geyser. This is quite an impressive water spout which shoots boiling water and steam direct into the air. The only problem is that it would be irregular shooting up every now and then which is no good for us tourists.
Prince of Wales Geyser
Therefore at 10.15 everyday they chuck some soap powder down the hole. This accelerates the process and so there is an immediate eruption. A Little too contrived but at least you get to see the geyser.Which is more than can be said for Rororua's biggest geyser at Te Puia which is meant to erupt high into the air at least 10 times a day but not at all on the morning we were there. (some persil needed I reckon) Fortunately there is a smaller geyser next to it, the Prince of Wales geyser, that performed throughout the period we were there. There were some mud pools etc but it was nothing like as good as Wai o Tapo. There are a couple of other attractions on the sight firstly a kiwi house but we couldn't see any kiwis in the darkened room and also the Maori Cultural Centre. Here there was quite an impressive show similar to the one we had seen in Auckland but on a bigger scale. Again there was a demonstration of the Haka war dance to make the hairs on the back of your neck go up but this time afterwards they called for volunteers to go on stage to learn and have a go at performing it themselves. I felt the need to have a go though Emma did not seem overly impressed with my efforts.
Aside from the thermal activity Rotorua is in a beautiful area with lakes forests and countryside. We spent a very enjoyable morning driving round including a trip out to the adjacent blue and green lakes colured by different mineral content and then into a redwood forest with pleasant walkways.
This is a small mountain behind the city with a gondola ride to the top for pleasant views of the area. In most countries this would be enough and you would then ride back down but this is New Zealand. So at the top queue up for your luge. Basically a big tray with wheels and a handle push forward to speed up and back to slow down and then choose one of three concrete tracks down; scenic intermediate or scary. The track is over a mile apparently though seemed shorter. You have to go scenic on your first go and Emma roared off ahead round the first bend. The route was quite fast enough for me but Emma complained about getting stuck behind a slower driver in front. Good job I'm doing the driving. Then it is back up a chair lift for another go if you want to. We chose the gondola back down. R
