Rotorua

The weather forecast for our three days in Rotorua was pretty grim: nearly all of New Zealand is in the grip of a huge swathe of rain, and we were right in the thick of it. Nevertheless, we decided that we should go out and explore the volcanic activity in the area, as this was after all what we’d come here for.

First thing to note about Rotorua is the smell. It whiffs. It pongs. It is everywhere, although it seems to come and go in gusts…but there’s always that background level of smell. You get used to it.

We drove about 27km south to Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland, which has a geyser that is set off artificially every day at 1015. We didn’t need to make an early start, but got on the road to make sure we could find it and be there in plenty of time, both of which we achieved with the minimum of fuss. The rain was coming and going in waves, but never completely stopped. We got our tickets to the whole park, including the geyser, and waited around n the light drizzle waiting for the show to begin. As it did, the rain got substantially heavier, and we all got somewhat soaked. The guide told the story of how the geyser had first been discovered by prisoners (it was on the site of an old open prison) and they’d used the hot water pool for washing their clothes. The soap they’d used had broken the surface tension of the pool and caused the geyser to erupt, distributing their laundry over a wide area. Nowadays they seed the geyser with an eco-friendly surfactant which has the same effect, and causes the geyser to erupt.

Who's this geyser?

Thoroughly drenched, we repaired to the café for refreshment and waited for the rain to ease off a little. This it duly did, and we went for a wander around the rest of the park, where that are various pools craters, and assorted deposits and other signs of volcanic activity. We were fortunate that the rain held off for most of the time, and only really set in again heavily when we were just on the last leg, so we rather rushed past those, and headed back to the café for a warming hot chocolate, and a trawl around the gift shop, whilst trying to dry out a bit.

This is where the café gets the hot chocolate from

On the way out, we drove past the mud pools, the final part of the tour. As it was starting to rain again, we decided to give it a miss, and this was vindicated as a truly torrential downpour then ensued as we made our way back to central Rotorua. By the time we got there we were pretty hungry, and we selected Fat Dog Café more or less at random – a good choice, as it turned out, and we had a substantial lunch there. We then set out in search of the fabled Rotorua t-shirt (all the gift shops we’d encountered so far only stocked general New Zealand t-shirts – I was after something more specific!) and had a walk around the Government Gardens, which contain some hot bubbling pools and a now-defunct geyser.

Cute baby pukeko in the Government Gardens

Tauranga

We cleaned the bach, packed our bags and hit the road early, to drive down to Rotorua via Tauranga. We wanted to call in to visit some friends of Sacha’s who’d emigrated to New Zealand last year. We stopped along the way at Matamata for coffee, then took a longer break at Karangahake Gorge, an old 19th century gold mining site which now has interesting walkways through the old mine works and up the river. Part of the walkway is through tunnels drilled into the rock, for which a torch is advisable. We didn't have a torch, and it was pitch black inside - you literally had to feel your way with arms outstretched to feel the sides of the tunnel before you got round a bend from which daylight was visible. 

Phew! Daylight!

We spent a couple of hours at the gorge, which also had several bridges of a suspension type which were a bit wobbly - the sign said maximum 10 people.

We stayed for lunch at the café before setting off for Tauranga and arrived at mid-afternoon. We’d thought that we’d be able to find the street where Sacha's friends lived quite easily, but had been hampered by the fact that there was no wifi at the bach, and so had been unable to look it up on the internet. You don’t realise how much you take it for granted these days, until you haven’t got it! Tauranga is New Zealand’s 6th  largest city, and also its fastest growing. Fortunately, we were able to follow road signs to an i-site, and get a map from there. It turned out that it was really easy to get to, and if we’d just carried on driving we’d have found it by blind luck.

We drove down to the wharf to the fresh fish market, and ordered fish & chips from the eatery there. They serve fish of the day, freshly caught, with chips on trays – none of you fancy-schmancy “plates” and “cutlery”! It wins awards every year as "best fish'n'chips" in the Bay Of Plenty. Lucinda had thoughtfully brought cutlery for all of us, as well as some cold Speight’s, tartare and tomato sauces, and vinegar. We sat outside on the dockside, our every move watched by a large flock of seagulls, who doubtless make a living by snatching food from the unwary and inattentive.

Afterwards we went for a walk along the beach towards Mount Maunganui, where a surf boat race was in progress; 

Mount Maunganui

and then had to take our leave as we wanted to get to Rotorua before night fell, in order to get into our next bach. The instructions for getting the key were somewhat convoluted, and we didn’t really want to be trying to find it in the dark! We found it with no trouble, and unpacked ourselves, nipped out for some necessary groceries from the local garage shop, before having an early night: we had a long day ahead of us tomorrow.