Rotorua

21/02/12-24/02/12

The morning begun with a short bus ride to my next destination Rotorua, or ‘Rotovegas’ as it is known to the locals due to the mass tourist industry that has sprung up there. The drive up had been along the thermal highway, this whole area of New Zealand is on top of a very thin area of the earth’s crust meaning that over hundreds of years there has been mass volcanic activity just occurring below your feet. The evidence of this can be seen in the plumes of hot stream that escapes through holes in the ground, from all sides of our journey up white steam streams through bushes and trees. After checking in at my hostel I made my way to the lake front through the Government Gardens. One thing you quickly notice as you walk around is the eggy smell in the air due to the sulphur gas escaping from earth’s core. Thermal activity is everywhere to be seen, from bubbling pools and mud steam bellows out continually. I followed the gardens round the lake till I hit a little bit of park land to find that the rugby world cup or the Web Ellis trophy is there on display as part of a nationwide tour, eagerly I have my photo taken next to it. Moving on I took a quick look around a Maori village with a meeting house and European style church before heading to Kuirau Park which is a large area of thermal activity just on the other side of the town, I stopped off to dip my feet in a free hot pool.

The north island had been experiencing one of its worst summers weather-wise for a while, no more would this be evident than over the next two days as heavy drizzle (similar to what we get back home) settled over Rotorua. Not that it mattered for my morning activity as I was picked up to be driven to Hell’s Gate, the base of my white water rafting company. My mornings rafting was to be down the local Kaituna River which includes dropping down three waterfalls, the highest of which is a 7 metre fall. Due to the bad weather a lot of people had cancelled so in the end there was only three of us on our raft including our guide, not that this was a bad thing because it meant we could mess around more in the rapids as there was less people to look after, a VIP tour! After suiting up we drove a short way to the start of our run before boarding our raft and setting out. After a crash course in the commands we would obey we were soon flowing on through the rapids. The big waterfall was halfway through our run, that day the drop was only 6 metres due to the water level but even so our raft was only 4.5 metres long. We stop off to prepare ourselves and hope that we would submerge the right way up at the bottom before casting ourselves adrift to tackle it. Somehow despite not getting myself probably into the raft as we fell we emerged unscathed at the bottom of the drop. Later on I jumped out of the raft to feel how strong the flow of water was under us before holding on to the side as we descended over some drops. It was a great experience overall but hard work as well. I had bought a combo ticket so after arriving back at base and waiting for a low in the rain I popped next door to visit Hell’s Gate, a very thermal area with various bubbling pools and featuring a ‘hot’ waterfall. While there I also got to have a go at Maori wood craving.

With the drizzle continuing for a second day I headed out to a nature park near to the town that features a forest full of redwood trees, these massive trees stretch straight up into the sky. I did a circuit walk before heading back due to the rain. That evening some Kiwi’s (the human kind) who were staying at my hostel took me out for the evening to a local historic pub called The Pig and Whistle to show me how Kiwi’s party to the live music of a band.

I awoke to find that the sun once again filled the sky so with an afternoon bus to catch I once again headed to the area round by the Government Gardens to walk some tracks I had missed before. I moved on to a little town near to Hamilton called Matamata to stay for the evening, with no hostels in the area I had to spend the night in a room above a pub. The next day I was to be transported to a different world.