Rotorua

20 February 2010
One of the reasons we are staying in The Love Shack is because most of the hotels/motels in Rotorua are of the anonymous chain variety, the other reason is that we read about the ‘bad egg’ smell that permeates the town. On our way in this morning we smelled the place long before we got there! Hydrogen sulphide drifts up from natural vents in the thin crust that typifies this region – everywhere there is evidence of volcanism. Two examples are quite amusing: shore nesting birds on the lake don’t have to nest sit as the earth keeps their eggs warm and graveyards are built in tiers above the soil level because traditional grave digging is likely to unearth a hot spring. The underworld looms large in place names – there are no end of “Hells” this and “The Devil’s” that, so much so that it prompted George Bernard Shaw, when he visited Hell Gate thermal area, to say “It reminds me too vividly of the fate theologians have promised me”.

Rotorua is also the name of the large lake where the town is situated. It’s a pleasant place to wander around with much of the architecture being Little Britain, including half-timbered, neo-Tudor buildings – even the tourist information has a mock-Gothic clock tower. The town grew up in the way it did because it fitted in with the boom in spa-towns of the Edwardian era. The spas here were claimed to treat almost every disorder from arthritis to alcoholism and nervous disorders to ‘sexual incontinence’ (whatever that is). So in for a penny, in for a pound (well NZ$20 actually) we went along to one of the modern-day equivalents, The Polynesian Spa. It’s a very pleasant, mostly open-air complex with lakeside views and views of the super-heated steam rising from the ground. There are two bathing areas one a large pool with slightly alkaline waters which is big enough to swim in and a second which is made up of a number of small pools called the Priest (or Radium) Pools – so called because a RC priest claimed the waters as having healing properties. The water in these pools is quite turbid having lots of minerals, it is also is acidic. The temperature in the various pools is written on a sign next to them. We started off in the lowest at 39c! When we had warmed up we moved into the 40c and then entered 42c, where we lasted all of 5 minutes before moving back into 39c, which then felt quite cool. We think Gregg's hope of it doing away with the need for his knee replacement was over-optimistic, but we greatly enjoyed it nevertheless.














We then had an excellent lunch in a bustling deli-cafe called Capers – thanks for the recommendation, David and Emma.
In the afternoon we visited the Okere Falls Scenic Reserve where we walked along the river getting glimpses of waterfalls and the river churning over large rocks. The walk ventured through some native bush with, inevitably, ferns and tree-ferns - some of them over 20 metres tall, really wonderful. We watched some people white water rafting and kayaking over the falls.














When we were coming to New Zealand Louise, a New Zealander from our allotment site, said that when people visit NZ they often try to do too much and that we should take time to just sit. That’s exactly what we did this evening back at the Love Shack, enjoying visits from a variety of birds (still haven't managed to find the Ladybird Book of NZ Birds)sitting late into the evening and watching the moon rise over the lake.