After the Waitoma Glowworm tour, we drove another 2 hours into Roturoa. This place stinks, what the heck? It also has steam coming out of everywhere. The history of this place is phenomenal. Wikipedia thank you!!

Thermal activity is at the heart of much of Rotorua’s tourist appeal. Geysers and bubbling mud pools, hot thermal springs and the Buried Village (Te Wairoa) —so named after it was buried by the 1886 Mount Tarawera eruption— are within easy reach of Rotorua. In Kuirau Park, to the west end of Rotorua, hot bubbling mud pools dot the park. Visitors can soak their feet in hot pools. Rotorua has the nickname Sulphur City, because of the hydrogen sulphide emissions, which gives Rotorua a “rotten eggs” smell,^[1] as well as rotten-rua combining its legitimate name and the rotten smell prevalent.The especially pungent smell in the central-east ‘Te Ngae’ area is due to the dense sulphur deposits located next to the southern boundary of the Government Gardens, in the area known as ‘Sulphur Point’.

We find our hotel and go to the grocery store to pick up a few things. Needed a little taste of home, so pbj was our choice for dinner.

Friday we headed out with map in hand to some local spots. Thanks Becky for the Fodor book. It’s been amazing!! A short drive brought us to the Tikitapu/Blue and Lake and the Rotokaki/Green Lake. The Blue Lake is used for boating and swimming. The Green Lake is protected and can only be viewed from the observation site. 

The Observation site also has trees that look like palm trees but are actually ferns.

We drove a little further and stopped at the “The Redwoods” WOW so big and beautiful. The picture above was in the Visitor Center and the tree I am standing in front of was 95 years old.We walked through the forest and the trees got bigger and bigger. I didn’t get a picture but the mountains behind the forest were covered in Redwoods which looked exactly like Christmas trees. The picture of the stream is actually a sulfur pool. Clear all the way to the bottom but vewy vewy stinky.

We drove into town to find the Kuirau Park. It was a beautiful park and the weather was awesome. We wanted to discover the thermal pools at this park. They are protected by walls and as you can see in the picture below why. Bubbling and boiling and yes very stinky. We found a foot pool to soak our feet in. It was warm like a jacuzzi tub.

We then drove to the City Center which is a bustling part of town full of Maiori culture. We wanted to walk the town, find dinner and enjoy the scenery which is exactly what happened. New Zealand puts beets on everything. Weird. Dad……Steve said he ate that piece of bread just for you.