2014-04-19

Rotorua

Rotorua must be the North Island most popular destination. The area where the town is built and a vast region around it sits right on top of a thermal active area and is famous for its geysers, hot springs, hot mud pools and its Maori population.

By the way the Maoris are the native people who have been there since the 14th century. They came in very large canoes from the east from the several Polynesian islands. Before that the land was almost empty save for some small groups of Polynesian who had migrated earlier. The Maoris had no written language; their stories were told form generation to generation and shown in picture form by means of wood carvings. Like with us when see a picture of a little girl with a red hat and a nasty wolf we know what the story is all about and so it is with the early Maoris.

Rotorua sits right on Lake Rotorua; steam plumes seem to rise everywhere, even from the street drains. In the parks there are many water holes with 90degree water or even boiling water comes right out of the ground.

The Maori village of Whakarawarewa (and that is the short version of that name) sits right on top a thermal mount. Hot water and steam bubbles everywhere and is used for cooking, heating and bathing by the local people. Tours are organised through the village which still support a fair population. The local swimming pools all have several baths with a variety in water temperatures reaching over 37 degrees.

The area is very scenic and definitely worth a few days.

Now for something very different check out the next page