Rotorua to Taupo

Woke several times in the night, assailed by the geo-thermal odour. One night here will definitely be enough. Returned to the museum to retrieve John's brolly (the rain hsd stopped by the time we left the museum yesterday.) then set off on a walk round central Rotorua. Government Gardens beside the museum are very pleasant had been laid out in the early 20th century and are still immaculately kept in colonial style - croquet lawn and pavilion, head gardener's cottage, rose garden. John retook some of yesterday's photos in today's sunshine.

Harbour in Ohinemutu

From there the walk took us through some unmemorable streets (Rotorua will not win any awards for architecture or town planning) to the lakeside which is pretty. The walk along the lake took us into the Maori village, Ohinemutu, still lived in by present day Maori. Nothing like the primitive huts we'd seen the night before but still clustered around their highly decorated meeting house and retaining a sense of community. The village contained a little Anglican church with an etched glass window showing Christ in a Maori robe.


There was a fair bit of geo-thermal activity in the village, with steam hissing out of drains and pavement cracks and wafting up from the surface of the little harbour where a couple of native craft were moored. Got talking to a local who turned out to be not only the local chief but also descended from a Scottish settler who had surveyed the area and ended up owning rather a lot of land himself :-)

Mud pools in Kuira Park (without the constant glooping)

Next we headed on foot away from the lake, across to Kuira Park, with its steamy pools, bubbling mud cauldrons and more whiffs of sulphur. John wondered what the acrid steam might be doing to his camera optics!  Unlike the major geo-thermal parks in Rotorua, which are heavily commercialised, this one is free. The walk back through the streets of Rotorua was unremarkable and, after filling the car with petrol, is was time to leave.


It's not far from Lake Rotorua to Lake Taupo. On the way we stopped at Orakei Korako Cave & Thermal Park, billed by Lonely Planet  as 'arguably the best thermal area left in NZ'. There are no huge geysers here (unless you're lucky enough to visit on a day when one decides to put on a performance) but no crowds either. We were so glad to have chosen this instead of one of the more touristy ones in Rotorua, After a lunch in a nice wee cafe by the side of Lake Ohakuri, a small boat ferried us across the lake to the park, the terraces and colours of which had been visible from across the water. 

Rainbow terrace at Orakei Koraku

A self-guided walking track (entry price 36 NZ $ per person,about £20!) took us through this fascinating area of bubbling and hissing pools, colourful silica terraces, coloured by sulphurous minerals and hot water algae, a huge white silica curtain, like a frozen waterfall, and up to the Ruatapu Cave which had a glassy,  jade green pool, site of Maori legend and rituals. Not to be missed.


From here we made our way to our B&B in Acacia Bay, just a few km outside Taupo. Once more we were made to feel very welcome and the facilities were very comfortable. Sat outside in the sunshine, catching up on email and writing the previous day's blog, before heading out to dinner in a brasserie just a short walk down the road. After having had a lovely sunny day, the weather changed and a huge thunderstorm developed as we were eating dinner - flashes of lightning, rumbles of thunder and torrential rain. Our B&B host, bless him, took pity on us and came and picked us up in his car.