funky Rotorua
Travel Location: Rotorua,New-Zealand
At the moment we are in Rotorua which is very important to the Maori culture as well as being apparently the thinnest area of the earths crust. This means that there are loads of steaming sulphurous ponds, bubbling mud holes and a pervasive odour of rotting eggs. Despite this Rotorua is a very funky place (in more ways than one), we are staying in a lovely modern hostel and there are loads of interesting places to visit. Today we went to the Governors gardens, a historical park with an old bath house which has been turned into a museum. Amidst the steaming ponds of the park were, surreally, a group of older people in crisp whites playing a big bowls tournament. We sat and watched for a bit, there were lots of swallows swooping around and the day was absolutely gorgeous (mid 20s and sunny), and the boys were strangely transfixed by the whole event.
We ended up in the Blue Baths, the re-housed bath house built in the 30s in a grand Roman style and it was a very chilled experience. There was hardly anyone else there, and we had the main pool and the two hotter side pools almost to ourselves. Stanley practiced his breast stroke and Archie luxuriated in the hottest pool whilst we enjoyed the sunshine and Ella Fitzgerald over the tannoy. After lunch we booked the next leg of our journey (8 hours on the coach to Wellington tomorrow – joy) and the ferry over to the south island the day after tomorrow. Reeling from the amount of money we’ve spent since we’ve arrived (my god everything is expensive here) we strolled around the streets of Rotorua enjoying the $2 shops (about our price range at the moment) and the continuing sunshine – can’t get used to it with all the Christmas decorations and carols.
