Day Eight … hello Rotorua

Today was a slower pace day for us as we had one location to visit, although we did have multiple stops there. Our destination was Rotorua, but as we were heading out of Tauranga our GPS suggested that we stop at the Hairy Maclary monument. Having been avid fans of these fabulous children’s books written by Lynley Dodd, and having read them to our children over and over again, we decided to check it out before we left. And we are so glad that we did. What a wonderful tribute - we hadn’t realised that the author was actually from Tauranga.

And so farewell to Tauranga and on to Rotorua. The countryside was so diverse as we drove the 60 plus kilometres … one minute it was flat, farming land and then mountains and gorges, then lakes and then back to the open land again. There was much to look at as we drove and many questions we found answers to via Mr Google as we drove (like what is TECT Park). I was also disappointed that I had missed  Miss Rotorua 2022 by one day, but hey that’s life.

Arriving in Rotorua we had time to complete our Ad Lab located at Kuirau Park, which is a nature park in the centre of town that has its own geothermal pools that you can walk around. There are footbaths that you can soak your feet in, but we didn’t stop to do that today, instead choosing to complete our little adventure before heading to our first “event” of the day.

We had booked in for a guided tour and walk of Whakarewarewa Village and Thermal Pools. This living village (a local Māori tribe still lives there) is spread out over 170 acres includes a traditional village which is where our guide Mike took us around explaining life for the Māori and how they use the geothermal waters to cook (we had some beautiful corn on the cob cooked in the pools), heat their homes and bath in. The geothermal pools - both water and mud - were extremely hot and the area was filled with the delightful smell of sulphur, as well as swirling steam rising from the lakes and rocks. As you walked along you were encased in the steam (mini facial) and you could hear the boiling waters and bubbling from deep below the earth. 

We had the chance to watch two of the largest thermal geysers “playing” as Michael called it as they got so hot that they began spouting water out of the rocks and creating a waterfall back into the pools. Once our tour ended we headed off to circumnavigate the park, taking in the large thermal lake and views from the lookout, and wandering amongst the houses of the actual residents of the village.

Our next stop was lunch, which may sound strange, but we had spied a restaurant with a name that called to me and we decided to check it out and have a proper sit down lunch rather than one on the go which we have done the last few days. The restaurant was called Atticus Finch, which will be obvious for my literary friends (hello my lovely library folk). But to help everyone else out, it is the name of the lead character in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. We had a lovely lunch surrounded by lots of bird statues and a key quote from the book.

After lunch our next stop was to visit the Government Gardens. These beautiful sprawling gardens were created and developed as a space for people to relax on land gifted to the crown by the Māori people. An elaborate Tudor style bath house was constructed in the early 1900s and a second bath house opened in the 1930s in a Spanish mission style. Both beautiful buildings, both very odd and sadly both currently closed as they do not meet earthquake protocols and therefore are having to be strengthened and modified to make them safe going forward. The gardens also contained geothermal pools, lawn bowls, croquet and pétanque spaces. It was lovely to wander and admire.

Our last stop on our journey through Rotorua was to visit the Buried Village of Te Wairoa. This is an archeological site that features an excavated village buried by the 1886 eruption of Mt Tarawera which had been caused by a series of earthquakes. Over 150 people died and the village was buried in mud and sludge from the volcano. Various archeological digs have uncovered the remains of buildings and artefacts which you can see as you wander the site. We were fascinated to see and learn about this village, one which is overlooked by other volcanic eruptions in the same era like Krakatoa in 1883.

Leaving the village we headed back towards Rotorua, stopping at the lookout located between the Blue Lake and the Green Lake and again at the waters edge of the Blue Lake where I paddled my feet in the crystal clear water whilst Ian popped over to the shop to grab our ice creams for the day. Then on to Whakatane, a drive of just over an hour (80+ km) where we checked into our accomodation, dumped our bags and headed out again.

Driving around the delightful little town of Whakatane we stopped to grab another Ad Lab (our plan is to do one a day at least) - this one a fabulous little trail of Kiwi statues as part of the Whakatane Kiwi Trust, which is a community led charity promoting the protection of local indigenous flora and fauna. We had fun spotting the little Kiwis and answering the questions about each one before grabbing some fish and chips and sitting on the waterfront enjoying a relaxing picnic with several extra friends keen to grab a snack (look for the airborne chip). After dinner we headed back to our hotel via the massive Pohaturoa Rock which soars above the roads of the shopping strip.

Now time for a rest … and my chance to blog our day and for Ian to firm up our plans for tomorrow.