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Rotorua Travel Blogs

Background: The Polynesian Maori reached New Zealand in about A.D. 800. In 1840, their chieftains entered into a compact with Britain, the Treaty of Waitangi, in which they ceded sovereignty to Queen Victoria while retaining territorial rights. In that same year, the British began the first organized colonial settlement. A series of land wars between 1843 and 1872 ended with the defeat of the native peoples. The British colony of New Zealand became an independent dominion in 1907 and supported the UK militarily in both World Wars. New Zealand's full participation in a number of defense alliances lapsed by the 1980s. In recent years, the government has sought to address longstanding Maori grievances.

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By AnTiLi
January 3rd 2010

Januar 2010 Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Rotorua

ahhhh Ferien...

Neues Jahr neues Glueck - wir starten durch in Rotorua und sind jetzt eine Patchwork-Gross-Familie mit Tim, Linus, Alyssa, Scott und Annett, Lucky dem Hasen und Zoey dem Hund und unseren 20 Fischen... [View Full Entry]

By LivingTheDream
December 24th 2009

Good as gold, cheap as chips, hot as hell? (Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand) Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Rotorua

Pohutu Geyser erupting at Te Puia thermal area

(Day 629 on the road) Rotorua stinks. Literally. The town is situated smack-bang in the middle of New Zealand's most active geothermal area, and everywhere you go the earth is smoking, hissing and steaming, basking the city in an omnipresent strong sulphur odour. It is actually quite a strange sensation to walk around downtown and see steam coming out of the ground in various places. Not surprisingly, the thermal activity with its range of geysers and steaming lakes plus a stronghold of Maori culture (the first settlers of New Zealand) draws tourists in their thousands to the area. On t [View Full Entry]

New Zealand imports its Kiwis from Italy - unbelievable

Pretty Rotorua Museum in the Government Gardens

By Sushijas
November 14th 2009

Hometown Fun Plus Auckland Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Rotorua

Crazed Rugby Fans

You know how, for the most part, you’d rather be travelling? Same with us. Yes, our entire New Zealand experience counts as travelling - but really, we like it best when we are sleeping somewhere other than our own bed. Not to say that we haven’t had some fun in our hometown lately. We’ve done some distinctly NZ things here and really enjoyed them. First, the rugby game. We knew we didn’t want to let our time here go by without catching a rugby match, and we ended up going to one with a big group from the hospital. Rugby is [View Full Entry]

By OJ Scott
October 29th 2009

Rotorua Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Rotorua

Filming location of Hobbiton in Matamata

We left Mercury Bay at 7.30am, and after a long drive we arrived in a little town called Matamata for a lunch stop. This place was the filming location for Hobbiton in the Lord Of The Rings movie, hence the sign with the Gollum statue! We then headed to our destination, Rotorua, which in my opinion was a bit of a dump. Greeted with heavy rain, the town is built over boiling mudpools and geysers, so sulphur dioxide rises up through the streets. Not good - the whole place smells of rotten eggs! It was 2pm when we arrived, and checking [View Full Entry]

By CN Travels
October 28th 2009

Rotorua - Taupo Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Rotorua

Lake Terawera

Thermal Explorer Highway This Highway cuts through the highlands in the centre of the North Island. There are volcanoes and geothermal vents all over the place once you get closer to Rotorua. Theres even some geothermal power plants along the way. Rotorua We drove to Rotorua around midday and took a little detour to the Buried Village east of town. The village was buried in the late 1800's by a volcano blast and is now used as a tourist attraction with guided walk and museum, we didn't have time to check it out though. Along the way are the Green and [View Full Entry]

By Leanne and Simon
October 9th 2009

What's that stench? Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Rotorua

Mud pool

After the Coromandel we stayed in the coastal town of Whakatane for two nights before heading inland to Rotorua. For those of you that don't know (we didn't) Rotorua is a geothermal wonderland set on a volcanic plateau which means there are plenty of hot springs, bubbling mud pools, steam rising ominously from the ground and a permanent stench of sulphur in the air. It really is overpowering sometimes. Our campsite was on the outskirts of town and as we walked through a geothermal area to get to the centre the smell of rotten eggs was so strong it made me [View Full Entry]

By Deirdre and Diarmuid
October 7th 2009

Roturua - Gateway to Geyserland Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Rotorua

Pohutu Geyser, Te Puia

Hi, Well we arrived in Rotorua in the evening of Friday 22nd May. As soon as we drove into the town a strong smell of sulphur hit us and it took a few minutes for us to figure out what it was until we saw all the steam rising from various cracks in the footpaths and other sulphur pools around the town. Tired we drove around for a long time looking for somewhere to camp for the night, but arriving by dark to a new place always proves difficult, we eventually found a spot by Lake Rotorua to camp for the [View Full Entry]

By BobClick
September 28th 2009

Onward Northward Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Rotorua

I was a nervous wreck behing the wheel of the largest vehicle I'd ever driven for about 20 minutes. Bumble B is in fact a very easy drive. It helps that, unlike the UK, here pretty much every tourist route, sealed road, roundabout and parking space is designed for vehicles larger than a Smartcar. So after a few dodgy left hand turns and a couple of hub-scrapes, we were cruising out of Auckland on State Highway One at a clipping 100kmh. It was sunny, the traffic faded away after we crossed Auckland Bridge, and gradually a bit of real Kiwi countryside [View Full Entry]

By broondog
September 28th 2009

Day 9 - TRAVEL - Rain, Rain and more Rain!!!! Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Rotorua

Hot Springs

Mon 28th September 2009 Disastrous start to the day since we slept in following a mix up with not putting the clock forward on our alarm clock and we missed saying bye to Aunt Yvonne before she headed off to work - Sorry again Aunt Yvonne! Not really much to see on our drive south, so much rain - we were struggling to see Auckland city from the harbour bridge, but we continue in valiant hope that it will brighten up as the day goes. Our route was primarily via Hamilton, Cambridge, Rotorua, Lake Taupo then Napier - all today. First [View Full Entry]

By Laurene
September 28th 2009

A rainy day in, a night out with the girls Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Rotorua

Not ready for the picture haha

I dropped Meike off at an internet cafe and then took the car back. It was pouring rain all day so we ended up staying in the hostel and playing uno all day with a few other people. A couple of other german girls wanted to go out that night so we joined them and we walked to the Lava Bar. Not too busy in there but we ended up meeting a bunch of guys from Australia here on a yearly fishing trip. It was one of the guys birthday so we ended up getting free shots all night thanks to [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Rotorua