If you have ever dreamed of hanging out in a city that smells like rotten eggs, then Rotorua is 
the place for you! Dubbed “Sulfur City”, Rotorua is one of New Zealand’s premier tourist destinations because there is evidence of vulcanism everywhere. Throughout the city, you can find pits of bubbling, steaming, smelling mud gurgling away. Graves in the churchyard have to be built above the ground because digging in the ground is likely to unearth a hot spring. The hotels all advertise geothermaly fed hot tubs and if you are lucky, there may even be a bubbling pit of mud right outside your window! There are thermal parks around the city with geysers, some of which spurt water 20m into the air, mineral baths, and bright orange or green pools.
The naturally hot water lured Maori to settle around the area. The Maori used the hottest pools for cooking and building their houses on the hot ground to provide heating during the winter. Today, there are a number of Maori villages in the area as well as a number of Maori led tours and the guide books say that it is a great place to experience Maori culture in the form of a concert or a hangi. The concerts are performances of Maori music and dancing and perhaps a bit of hongi (pressing of noses). The Rough Guides describe hangi as meals where the meat and vegetables are steamed for hours in an earth oven. First, the men light a fire and place river stones in the embers. While these are heating, a pit is dug into which the hot stones are plaed and covered with wet sacking. The women prepare the lamb, pork, chicken, fish, and vegetables and wrap them in leaves before arranging them in baskets which are lowered into the pit and covered with earth. A few hours later, the baskets are recovered revealing tender steam-smoked meat with a faintly earth flavor.
The city of Rotorua reflects its position as a tourist destination with a plethora of hotels, wide boulevards crisscrossing the downtown area, all lined with shops, restaurants, bars and more hotels. The city has been a tourist destination since the 1800’s when people came to bathe in the waters in hopes of curing all sorts of diseases and to see the Pink and White Terraces which were formed by sinter deposits of silica from volcanic activity. The terraces were proclaimed as the 8th wonder of the world, but were destroyed when Mt Tarawera erupted in 1886.
While in town, we were staying in a nice YHA affiliate which offered nice double rooms with
bath. The hostel was a bit odd in that you were issued your own plates and cutlery which you kept in your room when you were not using them. The hostel was located on the edge of the city and next to Kuirau Park, a large park that was full of thermal vents. The vents were the result of thermal activity that took place in January 2001 when an eruption occurred for about 15 minutes, throwing mud and steam 200m into the air. The park was a great introduction to Rotorua and Sue reported that the vents were even better than Craters of the Moon for which there is an entrance fee. There must have always been thermal vents in Kuirau Park because we saw bath houses where one can swim in the heated water. But, now there were also pits of mud all over the place as well as 
large pools of steaming water. Houses back right up to the park and I saw one house with open windows just above one of the bubbling, stinking holes in the ground. I suppose that you eventually get used to the smell, but still I cant help thinking that it cant be very nice.
The area around Rotorua is packed with things to do. Today there are thermal parks all around Rotorua and incorporating the word hell or devil into the name is quite popular (Hell’s Gate, Devils Playground, etc. You get the idea). One of the largest is Whakarewarewa Thermal Reserve where you can pay to see the bubbling vents and geysers. There are the nearby lakes fishing including the Blue and Green Lakes (which are blue and green, respectfully) for sailing, white water rafting and adventure sport. There are museums and lots of parks including the Agrodome where you can see a forty-five minute long sheep show (we passed) and many opportunities to see Maori concerts and hangi. Nearby Lake Rotorua is the St Faith’s Anglican church which is intricately decorated with Maori carvings and there is an image of Christ wearing a Maori cloak etched on a window so that he appears to be walking on the nearby lake. There is also a bird park where Sue was finally able to see her Kiwis.
While Sue was checking out one of the thermal parks, I went to the nearby Whakarewarewa Forest where a century ago, exotic plants were planted to see if they could grow in New Zealand. What is surreal is that amongst the numerous walking paths, horse paths and mounting bike tracks through the forest are a good number of Redwoods which had been brought from California. The trees were found to grow three times faster than in California and are thriving today.
Unless we were eating our weight in pizza, Sue and I would cook all of our meals at the hostel at which we were staying. One night in Rotorua, we decided to cook some of the Green Lipped Mussels that are found in New Zealand. As the name implies, the shells of the mussels are black, but have a beautiful green color around the edge. We set about cooking the mussels and butter in the hostel’s kitchen. I feared that people would be upset at the smell of shellfish, but most people were really curious about the mussels and where we got them. At $4 a kg, the mussels are amazingly inexpensive and tasty.
After our first day in Rotorua, we had to sit down to figure out what to do next. When we had planned out our whole trip, we had left an empty day in the schedule because we were not sure what to do with it. We poured over the guidebooks and after much discussion and logistical planning, we decided that we would drive up to Whakatane from where we would visit White Island, an active volcanic island located about 50km offshore. We even had to wear gas masks.
the place for you! Dubbed “Sulfur City”, Rotorua is one of New Zealand’s premier tourist destinations because there is evidence of vulcanism everywhere. Throughout the city, you can find pits of bubbling, steaming, smelling mud gurgling away. Graves in the churchyard have to be built above the ground because digging in the ground is likely to unearth a hot spring. The hotels all advertise geothermaly fed hot tubs and if you are lucky, there may even be a bubbling pit of mud right outside your window! There are thermal parks around the city with geysers, some of which spurt water 20m into the air, mineral baths, and bright orange or green pools.The naturally hot water lured Maori to settle around the area. The Maori used the hottest pools for cooking and building their houses on the hot ground to provide heating during the winter. Today, there are a number of Maori villages in the area as well as a number of Maori led tours and the guide books say that it is a great place to experience Maori culture in the form of a concert or a hangi. The concerts are performances of Maori music and dancing and perhaps a bit of hongi (pressing of noses). The Rough Guides describe hangi as meals where the meat and vegetables are steamed for hours in an earth oven. First, the men light a fire and place river stones in the embers. While these are heating, a pit is dug into which the hot stones are plaed and covered with wet sacking. The women prepare the lamb, pork, chicken, fish, and vegetables and wrap them in leaves before arranging them in baskets which are lowered into the pit and covered with earth. A few hours later, the baskets are recovered revealing tender steam-smoked meat with a faintly earth flavor.
The city of Rotorua reflects its position as a tourist destination with a plethora of hotels, wide boulevards crisscrossing the downtown area, all lined with shops, restaurants, bars and more hotels. The city has been a tourist destination since the 1800’s when people came to bathe in the waters in hopes of curing all sorts of diseases and to see the Pink and White Terraces which were formed by sinter deposits of silica from volcanic activity. The terraces were proclaimed as the 8th wonder of the world, but were destroyed when Mt Tarawera erupted in 1886.
While in town, we were staying in a nice YHA affiliate which offered nice double rooms with
bath. The hostel was a bit odd in that you were issued your own plates and cutlery which you kept in your room when you were not using them. The hostel was located on the edge of the city and next to Kuirau Park, a large park that was full of thermal vents. The vents were the result of thermal activity that took place in January 2001 when an eruption occurred for about 15 minutes, throwing mud and steam 200m into the air. The park was a great introduction to Rotorua and Sue reported that the vents were even better than Craters of the Moon for which there is an entrance fee. There must have always been thermal vents in Kuirau Park because we saw bath houses where one can swim in the heated water. But, now there were also pits of mud all over the place as well as 
large pools of steaming water. Houses back right up to the park and I saw one house with open windows just above one of the bubbling, stinking holes in the ground. I suppose that you eventually get used to the smell, but still I cant help thinking that it cant be very nice.The area around Rotorua is packed with things to do. Today there are thermal parks all around Rotorua and incorporating the word hell or devil into the name is quite popular (Hell’s Gate, Devils Playground, etc. You get the idea). One of the largest is Whakarewarewa Thermal Reserve where you can pay to see the bubbling vents and geysers. There are the nearby lakes fishing including the Blue and Green Lakes (which are blue and green, respectfully) for sailing, white water rafting and adventure sport. There are museums and lots of parks including the Agrodome where you can see a forty-five minute long sheep show (we passed) and many opportunities to see Maori concerts and hangi. Nearby Lake Rotorua is the St Faith’s Anglican church which is intricately decorated with Maori carvings and there is an image of Christ wearing a Maori cloak etched on a window so that he appears to be walking on the nearby lake. There is also a bird park where Sue was finally able to see her Kiwis.
While Sue was checking out one of the thermal parks, I went to the nearby Whakarewarewa Forest where a century ago, exotic plants were planted to see if they could grow in New Zealand. What is surreal is that amongst the numerous walking paths, horse paths and mounting bike tracks through the forest are a good number of Redwoods which had been brought from California. The trees were found to grow three times faster than in California and are thriving today.Unless we were eating our weight in pizza, Sue and I would cook all of our meals at the hostel at which we were staying. One night in Rotorua, we decided to cook some of the Green Lipped Mussels that are found in New Zealand. As the name implies, the shells of the mussels are black, but have a beautiful green color around the edge. We set about cooking the mussels and butter in the hostel’s kitchen. I feared that people would be upset at the smell of shellfish, but most people were really curious about the mussels and where we got them. At $4 a kg, the mussels are amazingly inexpensive and tasty.
After our first day in Rotorua, we had to sit down to figure out what to do next. When we had planned out our whole trip, we had left an empty day in the schedule because we were not sure what to do with it. We poured over the guidebooks and after much discussion and logistical planning, we decided that we would drive up to Whakatane from where we would visit White Island, an active volcanic island located about 50km offshore. We even had to wear gas masks.
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