Rotorua

Rotorua, Bay Of Plenty, New Zealand
Thursday, November 14, 2013

Thursday 14 November

The day dawned bright and sunny and so it has continued. We have explored Rotorua and some of its geothermals. It is such a strange mixture. Close to our motel, as I mentioned yesterday, is a geothermal park and I must be honest I expected it to be an area of natural scrub interspersed with mud pools, steaming lakes and fumaroles. The actuality was something of a surprise. There were all of the aforementioned features, surrounded by perfectly manicured lawns, shrubberies, laid out planting and topped with a wisteria clad Monet's bridge! The azaleas are at their best and the white Chatham lilies a picture, but it seemed such an incongruous mix as to be almost bewildering. I suppose I had Yellowstone in my mind as a benchmark and had anticipated a similar approach. The second area of volcanic activity is mixed in with a Maori village and expensive to view, as one has to take the whole package, so we left it, bearing in mind as we move on tomorrow, we will pass the largest area about 30 kms south. We drove slightly out of town this afternoon to look at some of the many beautiful lakes created as a result of past volcanic activity. At one spot, one can stand on a ridge between the green (Rotokakahi) and blue (Tikitapu) lakes and view the two. It is absolutely true, one does look blue and the other green, apparently due to the granite base of one and sandy bottom of the other. Well, who'd a thunk it!! We finished the afternoon by driving round the whole of Lake Rotorua, which is large. It was a perfect afternoon with not a cloud in the sky. We came upon a glorious spot called Hamurana recreation resort, of which I will upload a picture or two. To our astonishment, there on the lake, were hundreds of black swans and their cygnets. We stood and watched them for ages quite spellbound. This evening, our last in Rotorua, we had a meal at the Skyline restaurant approached via a gondola service. The views were amazing and the meal taken watching the sun set over the town and lake, as a myriad of twinkling lights transformed the area into a magical wonderland.
Rotorua, is unusual and the jury is out for me as to my opinion. I am reminded of a conversation I had with Richard W, when he said he felt it had been over-commercialised to the point of ruination and not to waste a great deal of time there. I see exactly where you are coming from Richard and may well come to agree with you.Read more