Blogs from Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 13

Such a cute little hostel, newly refurbished and super friendly owners and atmosphere. On the first night we went from only 6 of us in the hostel, to 8 the second and then double figures to around 12 on my final night! But it was nice as majority if us congregated in the lounge/eating area in the evening, and sat around on the sofas chatting, watching tv, and some playing chess. First morning: I now understand why people warned me about the smell. When you open the window it’s like a slap in the face, especially first thing in the morning, when you senses are even more vulnerable! Rotorua is a heavily Māori populated area, and the first area I have really experienced this. The main thing that strikes me about this, is that the atmosphere ... read more

The two German girls in my room were super noisy this morning, chatting in the room, with complete disregard at 7.30am. After an hour of this I was rather fed up, so I gave in trying to sleep and got up. As my bus wasn’t until 4pm this afternoon, I checked out, put all my luggage in storage, and much to my surprise had a highly amusing day. I went for an amazing late breakfast at a place called Bodyfuel – salmon and poached eggs with spinach….yum! Dave and I wondered round town, and noticed there was a home and garden show on. It was a $5 ticket event but as we were walking away a lady offered us two free tickets, so we grateful accepted. This show had such an array of items on sale, ... read more

Rotorua Rotorua is the cultural and geothermal hub of the north island and you notice it immediately on entering in the form of the distinct smell of rotten egg from the sulphur released from the steaming vents. This was our first taste of the geothermal side of New Zealand. Listed in the top attractions was a walk or mountain bike around the Redwood forest just outside of town. The stillness and silence of the forest was unbelievable, broken only by the 25 or so Chinese tourists with their cameras who must have decided to have a picture next to every tree in the forest, as they had only moved 25m down the path in the time it took us to complete a 2 hour loop. Tom described it as being like the Forbidden forest from Harry ... read more

On Saturday, we got up early and got the bus from Whitianga to Rotorua, via Thames, with a cheeky stop by a giant L&P Bottle - L&P is a NZ drink that tastes a lot like lemonade, but seems to be pretty dear to Kiwi hearts...so we tried a small one to be polite! As warned by the guide book (and by Christine), Rotorua itself smells of eggs due to all the sulphur coming from the many bubbling pools of water and mud, and strange coloured lakes giving off steam. It felt a little like being on a pre-hisoric movie set, as it was all so unusual...and the smell takes a bit of getting used to! For our first night we signed up to a Mauri evening where we learned a little about their culture and ... read more

Arrived at Rotorua after a journey through the actively volcanic "thermal region" of the North Island. It is peculiar to see steam rising from small craters by the side of the road with larger craters of boiling water and mud causing significant hazard zones if you are not careful to stick to the path. And the smell of sulfur, which hangs on the breeze, pervades the air even in the hotel at times. We visited one such thermal tourist attraction at Wai-O-Tapu on our way to Rotorua. The photos here do not do the place justice. Many of the boiling craters of steam vents, mud pools and hot springs are the result of underground collapse of the ground and bear names like the Devil's Bath, Devil's Bath and Inferno Crater. The whole Volcanic Plateau region bears ... read more