Rotorua January 28 - February 1

Maori warrior welcoming us to the hangi.

Kia ora!

On the way to Rotorua we stopped at the Kiwi fruit interpretation centre and took a tour of a typical farm. Ken now knows the history of the Kiwi fruit as well as it’s growth cycle, growing challenges and marketing strategies. He should be a hit at dinner parties when we return home.

Ken, practising his party tricks.

One of the Art Deco features

Our house in Rotorua was built in the 30’s in the art deco style. Wandering about the house is like strolling through a Katherine Mansfield short story. Double glass doors from the dining room open on to a lawn perfect for garden parties.

Dining room with glass doors to the garden.

Nice legs!

We would like to have tea on the garden patio, however, the weather has not been cooperating.During our first night here Cyclone Wilma passed through, dropping 140mm of rain in less than 24 hours leaving flooded streets in its wake.  Ours was one of them. The back garden was under water for all of our first day. We are so fortunate to be in NZ at this historic time - January has had the most rain since they started keeping records some 100 years ago, close to 500mm. On the days when it is sunny, however, it is intense with the UV index reaching 12 or extreme. Ken has a sunburn on his chin, under his beard.

Charles, looking for photo opportunites on our street after the cyclone.

Rotorua in built on the edge of a lake that fills the bottom of a dormant volcano. As a result, the earth’s crust is quite thin here allowing heat from the magma beneath to heat the ground water to temperatures as high as 100°C. Throughout the city there are thermal pools, mineral baths and pools of boiling mud. City parks often have foot baths - covered areas where you can sit and dangle your feet in a natural hot water pool.

Mud pool in the park

Hot pool in the local park.

Sign from the local park

Rotorua is a centre of Maori culture and we have done our best to engage with it. There is a very interesting dynamic at play around Maori culture - one that we are still learning. In this area they have established their influence. Civic functions begin in Maori and then revert to English.

A highlight of our stay was 'Opera in the Pa', a semi-annual evening of opera that brings together some of New Zealand’s opera stars to perform outside at the site of a Maori fortified village or pa. To sit under the southern cross on a beautiful star-lit night watching the sky turn from indigo to black while Aivale Cole and Benjamin Makisi sang was magic.

Benjamin Makisi and Aivale Cole singing at the Opera in the Pa.

 We finished our stay in Rotorua with a walk in the Redwood Forest - Whakarewarewa Forest to the locals. It is a beautiful 40 sq km area adjacent to 3 lakes and crisscrossed by hiking, walking, biking and horseback riding trails. Fran and I hiked for nearly two hours up to a lookout giving us beautiful views down  Lake Rotorua to the city centre. Towering Redwoods and huge ferns surrounded us making it seem like a primordial forest. The insect and bird noise was almost deafening.

Fran hiking through the giant ferns and Redwood trees.

As anticipated it was back to work being a tourist. We did, however, manage to pace ourselves and take time to relax at one of the many local spas.

Relaxing in one of 7 natural hot (43C) pools overlooking Lake Rotorua.

Next, we are off to Tongariro National Park where Ken and Charles plan to hike the Tongariro Crossing.