Rotorua

Trip Start Sep 11, 2008
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Trip End Jun 05, 2009


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Where I stayed
Central Backpackers
(Rotorua hotels)

Flag of New Zealand  , North Island,
Monday, January 19, 2009

We got a lift down to Rotorua with Stuart and Anne as they were headed down to Napier and the East for a road trip for a few days, to the area which just happens by strange coincidence to be wine country. We checked into the Central backpackers for a night which was OK, and went straight out to look around. We got lunch and went to eat it at the lake, but the part we headed to happened to be Sulphur Bay with white water and yellowy crystals on the banks. The whole town smells eggy due to the geothermal stuff going on so we just got on with it and ate our lunch by the stinky lake. We saw some cool bubbling vents with boiling water and mud down there, very scary what the earth can do. A kid ran past us and gashed his foot right open on a broken bottle so Lucy played paramedic and gave him a bit of tissue to stop the blood which was spraying everywhere. My only help was to tell him to go and stick it in the lake to clean it which of course wasn't a good idea, being acidic, sulphurous and highly toxic. I'm not a trained first aider by the way.
We checked out the historic Maori village with its wooden Catholic and Anglican churches and the meeting house with incredible carvings. Amongst the gravestones and along pavements are small vents with water and steam boiling out, unguarded and not roped off at all. We saw a replica 20m long Maori war canoe and at 6pm went to Mass at the church. I wasn't too keen, I went a few months ago after all. Most of the congregation were white but some parts were said in Maori and the final hymn sung in Maori too so I quite enjoyed it as it was cultural and different. I did stop short of singing though. After that we walked through the town park and saw all the boiling lakes and pools of mud, we didn't have a car or the money to go and see all the touristy geysers and stuff but saw all we wanted to see. On the way home we picked up two giant t-bone steaks reduced to $5 (less than 2 quidfor both) and BBQ'd them while all the other backpackers ate their pasta with tomato ketchup on.
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