Thermal Reserves, Maori Village & Te Wairoa
Travel Location: Rotorua,New-Zealand
We left Waitomo at 9.30am and arrived in Rotorua at 12.15pm. The area is famous for having a rotten egg smell caused by its many geothermal areas which seeps into all of your clothes! After checking in to our new hostel we went straight to the info centre for help on deciding what to do for the days we were in the area. With all that sorted we went to Hells Gate which is one of the geothermal reserves. We walked around looking at the different bubbling/steaming pools and thermal areas. You could actually feel the heat on some of the rocks on the path. Our favourite part was the Kakahi Falls, where the water flows at about 40 degrees. After the walk round we tried our hand at wood carving which Andy particularly enjoyed. We then went to relax in an outside bath of natural thermal mud which we smeared all over ourselves. That was good but having to have a freezing cold shower to get it off wasnt so great! We then bathed in some geothermally heated pools which were filled with the natural waters (Meg loved all of this). On the 22nd we went to Wai-O-Tepu Thermal Wonderland where we went straight to watch the Lady Knox Geyser go off (they manually activate this at 10.15am everyday) sending water shooting high into the air. After, we spent 3hrs following the trail around the 18sqkm thermal reserve looking at the many collapsed craters, bubbling pools of mud and water steaming fumeroles. Our favourites were the artists pallet and the champagne pool. Back in Rotorua town Andy finally found a pair of shorts to replace his DKNY ones that hes had for 9 years! In the evening we got picked up and taken to the nearby Mitai Maori Village where we had a really nice evening. We watched the Mitai warriors in traditional dress and body paint, paddle a hand crafted canoe down stream chanting and pulling their faces of war. After we sat and watched a really good traditional Maori performance set in a actual village site. It was led by the Mitai cheif and his tribe performed a number of dances, games and songs. The finale was a brilliant full blown haka. We ate a lovely dinner that was cooked in a hangi (traditional underground oven of hot stones and wood). The evening finished with a bush walk and a look at the sacred Fairy Spring. On our last day in Rotorua we visited the Te Wairoa – buried village. Here we spent time looking around the museum learning about people and places affected by the massive volcanic eruption of Mt Tarawera in 1866 which buried a large town. We saw a lot of the excavated artefacts and looked at the remains of some surviving buildings in the grounds. We then followed a steep track down to the foot of the picturesque 30m Wairere Falls. After, we drove to a nearby lookout which provided great views of the Waitoharuru Valley (where the lava flooded) Lake Tarawera and Mt Tarawera. In the evening we visited the Polynesian Spa where we spent an hour or so sitting in the various outdoor geothermally heated pools that were filled with natural waters – they ranged in temperature, the hottest being a lovely 42 degrees!
