Rotorua

Rotorua – something for everyone

There was a time when it would have been a challenge to find a decent cappuccino in Rotorua. Now the thermal city has a café culture with lattes to rival some of the frothiest on Auckland’s Ponsonby Road. Restaurants spill tables onto the sidewalks and diners enjoy an appetizing variety of cuisine. Rotorua, long known as a centre of North Island tourism, has matured into a buzzing resort. There’s certainly much on offer for tourists - from bathing in soothing, thermal waters and visiting the acclaimed New Zealand Maori Arts & Crafts Institute to scenic flights by aquaplane over the area’s many crater lakes.

There are no fewer than fourteen lakes in the vicinity, including Lake Rotorua, itself.

Two of the prettiest are the Green and Blue Lakes. They’re all within easy driving distance from each other. And as well as all the boating, swimming and fishing opportunities offered by the spread of lakes in the Rotorua region, there are many pleasant walks, one of the best being a ninety-minute walk around the Blue Lake. It is Rotorua’s reputation as a centre of geothermal activity and scenery, however, that first brought it to the attention of overseas tourists in the mid-1800s. Spectacular geysers and furiously boiling mud pools push through the crust of the earth in bursts of pent-up energy. During the first half of the 20th century, the drilling of local wells to tap the geothermal power eventually began sapping the life out of the geysers and mudpools. Thankfully, subsequent regulations forced a switch to other sources of energy and the fantastic fusion of steam and boiling mud has returned to entrance visitors once again.

Rotorua’s thermal valley of Whakarewarewa has long been a prime attraction, drawing curious spectators from all over the world to see the mighty Pohutu geyser blow his stack and to watch the angry mud pools. For generations Maori lived in the thermal valley of Whakarewarewa. Today it is still a centre of cultural activity in the adjacent Maori Arts and Crafts Institute and visitors can observe locals practising the traditional skills of their forebears.

Other, out-of-town thermal valleys are relatively close at hand. An easy drive from Rotorua city is the scenic thermal valley of Waiotapu with its vivid silica deposits and lovely Champagne Pool. Also close by is Waimangu Volcanic Valley comprising the southernmost rift and crater blasted by the devastating eruption in the 1800s of Mt. Tarawera. The eruption destroyed exquisitely coloured silica shelves on nearby on Lake Rotomahana, known as the Pink and White Terraces. What remains today on the outskirts of Rotorua is a deeply cratered mountain - and images, captured in paint, of the beautiful Pink and White Terraces.

Before visiting the thermal valleys, it’s worth visiting the Tudor-inspired mansion in Rotorua’s Government Gardens. The building is now the Rotorua Museum of Art and History and an interactive film explores the volatile thermal landscape. Viewers plummet 13 kilometres into the earth’s cauldron as the movie rolls. The theatre-seats shudder and soar, adding dramatic effect, while tectonic plates collide and Mount Tarawera’s cataclysmic explosions erupt before you.

Barely a month goes by in Rotorua without an interesting recreational event. For example, the city is a mountain bike mecca and, each February, mountain bikers converge there to compete on Rotorua’s forest and lake tracks in National Cross-Country and the National Downhill Championships. Adrenaline-pumping experiences include hurling one’s body off a bungy tower, rafting a waterfall, hang-gliding or rolling down hill in a huge plastic ball called a Zorb.

More family-oriented adventures include the popular luge ride downhill - after a thrilling gondola ride up. The popular Skyline gondola Skyridesnow operate year-round cycle tracks from the summit of nearby Mount Ngongotaha. Winter is traditionally the slower season but this is when the trout fishing city casts extra lures, such as the annual Rotorua marathon. And when the chill sets in, the steam rising from the famous Polynesian spa baths on the edge of Lake Rotorua is a powerful magnet. The Spa pools first opened in the 1880s and have been luxuriously renovated in recent times. Nearby, too, are the legendary Blue Baths in a charming, art deco building.

The Maori-owned and operated Maori Village a few kilometres south of Rotorua offers interactive experiences that culminate with a tasty meal from an earth-covered hangi, and a concert. And a long-standing favourite attraction with families is the Agrodome with its demonstrations of sheep shearing and cow milking and watching the skilful sheepdogs at work.

Rotorua is well endowed with holiday accommodation, ranging from budget to luxurious. Daily air services connect the city with other main centres in the country and coaches come from all other points. From Auckland to Rotorua you can travel by road in two and a half hours and the section through the Mamuku Forest is a scenic highlight.

CULTURAL AND THEME TOURS ROTORUA
TEN ROTORUA TOURS