Rotorua, New Zealand: Geothermal Sites

Yup, still catching up on posts from the spring and summer. Here's another!

As part of our swing through the North Island of New Zealand, just after our awesome unplanned stop in Hobbiton, Nana and I washed up in Rotorua, a town in the center of the island known as a hotspot for Maori culture - and as a hotspot, full stop.

You see, Rotorua sits in the heart of New Zealand's Tapuo Volcanic zone, amid a steaming landscape of hot springs, stinking pits, and geothermal mud pools. This makes Rotorua one of the world's geothermal wonderlands - kind of the Yellowstone of the antipodes, if you will. We'd only planned one night in Rotorua, but the place was so incredible we just had to extend our stay.

We spent our first day in Rotorua poking around the town itself, where we quickly learned that you don't need to venture far to find geothermal weirdness. For instance, part of the directions we were given to the town's central park involved, at one point, "driving towards the columns of steam."

In fact, if I recall correctly, part of the reason why the park is a park is that all the geothermal activity makes it unsuitable for development.

Not that geothermal activity has stopped builders before: the locals we met told stories of people with steam vents in their backyards - or even in their basements! - that can even be used for boiling eggs or making tea.

From the park, we went to the Rotorua Museum, housed in the spectacular old Rotorua Bath House.

Completed in 1908, the Bath House sits on a grassy peninsula jutting out into Lake Rotorua. On a clear day, the mineral waters of the lake shine a bright gray-blue when viewed from the rooftop observation deck.

We went to the museum not expecting much, but in the end it may have been the best museum of the trip. In addition to a film on the devastating 1886 Mount Tarawera eruption and a fascinating exhibit on Maori culture, there was also a very amusing tour of the Bath House building itself. Long story short: the place opened just when places like it were going out of style.

Quick! You heard the man! Bathe like it's going out of style!

Bonus: a "rainbow" in the rafters!

Of course, the geothermal fun didn't stop there: our accommodation, the highly (highly highly highly) recommended Malfroy Motor Lodge, had a geothermal pool and a mineral hot spring out back. Nothing like a moonlit swim on a frigid night!

Stay tuned - there are more Rotorua adventures to come!