Fun things to do in Rotorua

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A must attend is a Maori Cultural Show with Hungi Dinner with many villages and hotels providing a memorable evening. We attended this one at Sudima Hotel were we were staying. It started with a Hungi (Maori style cooking) dinner including NZ lamb, the meat just fell apart with an assortment of fresh vegetables, you will not go away hungry and Rabbit had seconds lol. Also included in the desert's was Shirley's favourite, the famous NZ Pavlova...omg she was so happy!! Followed by a Maori Cultural Show with traditional singing and dancing which was very very good, even having audience participation at the end...lmao. A good time was had by all!

Rotorua hizo un gran esfuerzo para reconstruir su industria del turismo después de la erupción del volcán Tarawera y por eso construyeron esta Casa de Baños de estilo Tudor aprovechando las aguas minerales y termales que existen en la zona . Tuvo su época gloriosa y también fue centro de recuperación para los soldados que estuvieron en la Primera Guerra Mundial , convirtiéndose actualmente en un museo de Arte e Historia en el que se pueden ver las antiguas instalaciones del balneario , recuerdos del Batallón Maorí y la galeria de los Arawa , tribu Maorí que vivió en esta zona
Lo mejor es dar un paseo por el parque , ver el edificio y si puedes únete a las visitas guiadas que las hace una señora genial

Rotorua dids a great effort to rebuild its tourism industry after the eruption of Mount Tarawera and therefore they built the Bathhouse that is a Tudor-style building and they took advantage of the mineral and thermal waters that exist in the area. It had glory days and it was also used as recovery centre for soldiers who served in World War I, becoming now in a Museum of Art and History , in which one can see the ancient spa facilities, memories of the Maori Battalion and a gallery of the Arawa , Maori tribe who lived in this area
The best is to take a walk in the park, see the building and if you can try to join a guided tour that is made by a great lady

Waitomo is 140km away from Rotorua, and since you cannot miss the spectacular "glow worm cave", I suggest organising a half-day trip.
The Waitomo glowworms are unique to New Zealand, though it is possible to find them in some Australian caves as well.
Glowworms need a wet and dark environment, they sparkle in the dark to attarct mosquitoes to feed.
Since the cave very dark, it will take for your eyes some time to get used to it; in the meanwhile a guide will provide you with a lot of info on the cave and its inhabitants. Gloworms are concentrated on the final part of the cave, that can be reached on boat only. Once on the boat you're no more allowed to talk, and you'll be silently driven in the darkness, untill you'll see one of the most beautiful spectacles in your life: the glowworms sparkling in the dark gives the impression of a starry night... priceless!
The entrance ticket costs 28NZ$.

As part of the Maori hangi and concert, we were given the opportunity to purchase tickets to the Realm of Tane. At the time, I wasn't really sure what I was signing up for. It turned out to be a seperate performance that we attended earlier in the day. An interactive story in which a grandmother is passing down the culture/stories of her childhood to her grandaughter. Part guided tour, character theater, and story telling. My friend and I were the only one in attendance which seemed a little odd at first, but the cast did a great job of performing, and it was very touching. We really felt like we had attended something special as we lef the theater.

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This really is a place to go if you are interested in geothermal activity. Wai-O-Tapu - which means Sacred Waters and is only 30kms from Rotorua - has some unique features like The Lady Knox Geyser and the Champagne Pool.

But be prepared to meet loads of tourists as everybody tries to be there at 10.15am. This is the time of the guaranteed daily eruption of the Lady Knox Geyser which was discovered in 1901 by prisoners who had to clear the area. Those prisoners also found out that the geyser could be made to erupt by throwing soap into the bubbling water. By coincidence, of course. They were just washing their clothes in the hot water. Soon the place was transformed into a tourist attraction and named after the daughter of Lord Ranfurly, the 15th Governor of NZ, Lady Constance Knox.

At the start rocks had been placed around the base of the spring, and within the past 100 years silica from the eruptions built up a white cone which makes the spring look like the vent of a volcano. A ranger throws a cake of soap into this opening, and soon after the geyser erupts, the hot water reaching heights of up to 20 metres, and the eruption can last for an hour.

Whereas in Rotorua you have the rotten egg smell of sulphur in your nose everywhere Wai-O-Tapu offers the full palette of colours geothermal activity can create. The Artists's Palette displays spots of different colours and shades, depending on the minerals the water contains.

Yellow: sulphur
Orange: antimony sulphide
White: silicon sulphide
Green: arsenic sulphide
Purple: manganese
Red and brown: iron oxide and iron oxyhydrate
Black: sulphur and carbon

The most impressive feature is the 74°C hot Champagne Pool with green water, and striking orange rocks all around the pool. On the water surface you see big bubbles which are created by carbon dioxide. It is the biggest pool in the area. The mud pools are also fantastic.

Other formations have the promising names Devil's Home, Rainbow Crater, Thunder Crater, Devil's Ink Pots, Opal Pool and Inferno Crater.

On my first NZ trips Te Puia and Whakarewarewa at the city limits of Rotorua were still one attraction for which you had to pay one entry fee. At the end of the 1990s there was an argument and the geothermal site was divided, even "Whaka" itself, and since 1998 you have two tourist attractions side by side. So it is up to you to make a choice as nearly the same things are offered, geothermal wonders and Maori culture.

Although we have been there with nearly no other tourists around it can happen that the thermal reserves are totally overcrowded with busloads of tourists. If you do not mind this and have limited time it still is a good place for getting an impression. However, the geothermally much more spectacular and colourful places are Waiotapu and Orakei Korako.

Whakarewarewa (the wh is pronounced as f) is only a third of its original size and features bubbling mud holes, hot pools, steaming and sulphor stinking flats, as well as Maori carvings, a meeting house and stage where you can twice daily enjoy a culture show. It is now known as The Thermal Village which really has kept its original village feeling. You can explore the place on your own or join a guided tour, and I clearly prefer it to Te Puia - and it is cheaper ;-)

However, the main attraction of "Whaka", the very active Pohutu geyser, is now on the other side of the fence and belongs to Te Puia. But it can still be seen from the "Whaka" area, and it erupts several times a day and does not need to be fed by soap to erupt like the famous Lady Knox Geyser at Waiotapu.

Te Puia did not only get Pohutu but also the other two thirds of the original Whakarewarewa. Officially it is The New Zealand Maori Arts & Crafts Institute. You can watch Maori artists carve and wave houses, canoes, weapons, jewellery and clothes and also buy the very expensive products. They also have a Kiwi House with two or so kiwis, and offer guided tours and cultural perfomances with song and dance, including a hangi which is the traditional Maori meal from the earth oven.

Whakarewarewa - The Thermal Village

Open 8.30am-5pm, 12 guided tours from 9am, Maori shows 11.15am and 2pm, admission $23/children 11.50 (includes all this).
Hangi (meals) 12noon-2.30pm, $50/26.50; hangi taster only $15, full hangi $30; interactive package (you prepare your hangi, make a food basket from flax etc.) $60/39.

Contact:
Whakarewarewa Thermal Village
9a Tukiterangi Street
Whakarewarewa Village, Rotorua
Freephone (0800) 924 426, Tel. (07) 349 3463
Website: www.whakarewarewa.com
E:Mail: info@whakarewarewa.com

Te Puia

Open 8am-6pm (in summer), guided tours hourly 9am-4pm, concert at 12.15pm and 3.15pm, admission NZ$28/children 14 includes all this.
Song, dance and feast 6.15pm (lasts 3 hrs) - NZ$85/50.
Combo of Admission and evening show $101/57.50.

Contact:
Hemo Road, Rotorua
Tel. (07) 348 9047
Website: www.tepuia.co.nz
Book online or by Fax (07) 348 9045

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A visit to the Agrodome in Rotorua is as touristy as it can get. But still it is great fun and I am happy that I was there for the sheep show.

I yawned over the cheap jokes of the presenter who welcomed the public in 20 languages or so, and did not tire to bore me with his endless research if perhaps someone from Myanmar or the moon was among us, as probably he can say Hello in Burmese and Moonish. And well, as you share the big hall with approximately a million people there is a chance that one of them is from another planet. Believe me, it is a very tiring introduction.

But when this is over the show is just great and worth to ignore with how many people you have to share the fun.

First 19 sheep of 19 different breeds run onto the stage and right onto their place on the podium which carries the name tags of all breeds. When they have reached their designated spot they chew on the food pellets provided in little containers and seem to be bored. Those sheep are not to be compared to the sheep that flee from you on the paddocks when stop to take a photo. Those sheep do not even mind when a bunch of farmdogs run over their backs and finally sit on them. Most action is shaking the head as if asking why they have to perform the same and same rubbish again and again... Well, they are just fantastic!

Also the sheep that comes to stage for shearing is not scared at all. Perhaps it would even extend and contract its limbs without this microphone guy touching it at its soft spots.

Then a cow appears and some tourists have the chance to milk it on stage, and at the end some lambs nearly run over the tourists who have been chosen to bottle-feed them. Absolutely cute, of course :-)

True: Although I hate such masses of people, silly comments and cheap jokes I would go there again!

If you can't get enough make the farm tour, visit the woollen mill and the shearing shed.

3 shows daily at 9.30am, 11am and 2.30pm

Rates (as Feb. 2007):
adults $22, children $11
Organic farming tour $28/13
Combo of both $45/20