Full of hot air (water) in Rotorua

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Day 558 (7.10.08)

Our next stop was Rotorua and we arrived and found a place to stay by lunchtime. We decided to take a wander around town and visited first the Kuirau Park which is free to wander around, is very pretty and has many thermal pools spouting rotten smelling steam into the air. Our favourite pool was very big and giving out so much steam that we could barely see around us - superb!

Leaving the park we made our way to Lake Rotorua where we stopped off at the Ohinemutu village, a Maori village with meeting house etc.

Leaving there we continued along the lake's edge where we saw lots of black swans and a huge Maori war canoe before it got very blowy and we turned inland to stroll around the Government gardens. We spotted a few of the large footed pukeko birds and checked out the cool buildings which house the thermal baths and the town museum before going back to our hostel as it was starting to rain.

What better thing to do in the rain than to get even wetter? We put on our swimmies and jumped into the hostels thermal swimming pool for a relaxing dip to end the day - the only trouble was the thought of getting out into the cold rain kept us in the pool so long we turned to prunes.

Day 559 (8.10.08)

Our second day in Rotorua and we had planned to go to a Thermal Park and Maori Cultural Experience - basically the things this area is famous for.

Te Puia is one of the main places to visit in the area and after much deliberating this was the one we chose, and we thoroughly enjoyed it! Getting there before the crowds, we had a walk around the park to see some of the Geothermal phenomena before going to see a traditional Maori welcome performed by members of the local Maori Tribe to the region. We both entered into it with a little skepticism that it would be a little to contrived for us but it was actually very informative and enjoyable showing us what would be done in a welcoming ceremony and the reasons and traditions behind it. Chrissie was even able to get up and have a go at some Poi dancing with the ladies.

After the performance, we joined a free tour of the park which took us around the rest of the village, the traditional Carving and Weaving training centres, The Kiwi house and the geothermal area again the center piece of which being the huge Geyser which at times fires water up to 30 metres in the air.

After leaving the tour we had a sit on the geothermally heated seats which got pretty hot and walked over to the cooking hole. This thermal hole was fed by spring water so did not have the sulphur smell to it. We tested out to pool by cooking a corn on the cob in the water using a traditional method. Mark was able to do the cooking and the corn emerged cooked to perfection.

Before we left we wanted to try a Hangi meal. This is a traditional way of cooking involving heated rocks being buried with the food creating a steaming underground oven. The closest we could get was a Hangi meal from the restaurant which gave us an good idea - very moist and tender but unlike the real thing was lacking in a little flavour.

Finishing our time in Rotorua we were back on the road north stopping off at the giant Kiwi in Te Puke for a pic before hitting Tauranga for the night.

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Photos

Kuiruia park
steamy!