Rotorua, Bay of Plenty and the Coramandel Peninsula

Rotorua is to GeoThermal activity as Las Vegas is to gambling..it is the most thermally active place on earth and also the most touristy place for this kind of thing in the world. There are many Thermal “parks” you can go to each with their own special attraction. The ones in Rotarua itself are big and expensive and offer a range of different attractions including a lot of Maori cultural exhibitions. The Maoris were very established in this area as they used the hot water springs for cooking and warming. However we chose to go to a park outside the city where they had a cross section of deep craters with boiling mud belching fumes, sulphurous streams leaving bright yellow terraces, and huge lakes that were multicoloured and boiled away in various steamy vents. This park was known for its vibrant colours , all due to different minerals dissolved in the water, and again we were mesmerized by the various thermal features knowing that it was the fury below the ground that was the fascinating part. One lake was brilliant yellow ( from the sulphur) and another was fringed with red, and yet another was bright green. We watched as a geyser spurted meters into the air, and saw the layers of ash laid down by the huge supervolcanoe of Taupo.

Rotarua also has a huge forested area which covers the whole caldera and the various cone shaped mountains. One of the forested areas was a grove of Redwoods towering high above the other species of tree. They were planted to see how well they would do in this area as a commercial tree, but years later they have made a stunning forest which is open for hiking..it smelled just like being in North America.

The next stop was the Bay of Plenty which is known for its fruit growing and beaches. The area around Opotiki is still thickly forested with parts of virgin bush. The early settlers tried to farm this area but its ruggedness and poor soil meant that they failed..when they tried to grow grass for animals the ferns and tree ferns just regrew. This is where the story of the movie The Piano was located. There is a swing bridge across the fast flowing river into this area which the pioneer farmers used to get access into the mountains, but now it is only used for hiking.

Across the Bay is the mountainous Coromadel Peninsula. Once again we made the mistake of thinking it was just a short journey when looking at the map..but with the twisting mountainous roads it took much longer..especially since it had started raining heavily. The reason for going there was more than just the scenery which was stunning...but also we wanted to see a phenomenon called the Hot Water Beach.

When we arrived at this beach we sat in the van and looked dismally at the rain lashing the windows and the cold miserable wind and thought...”how much do we really want to do this??” However, since we had driven 3 hours we thought we may as well go and see it. So, dressed in warm woollies over our bathers , rain gear,and towels stuffed under ponchos we crossed a river and walked onto the main beach 100 meters around a rocky cove brrrr! But what a surprise when we got there...people had dug pools ( with shovels they had brought) and were all sitting happily enjoying the warm mineral springs that were bubbling up through the sand on the beach in various spots. At first we just put our toes in, but it was so warm that we stripped off and sat in a pool digging out the sand with a little bowl. There we were in rain and wind, having a spa on the middle of a beach.....bizarre!! But what fun, and we stayed there a good while enjoying it. Some of the bubbles were jolly hot and took people by surprise judging by the odd exclamation of “ouch, S...t !! ’An old chap in the pool next to us made us laugh..he used a metal colander to dig the sand, and was laying on his back with the colander as his head rest and knitted cap on his head and beer in the sand next to him!

Also on this peninsular are many rugged islands in the bays which jut out of the surf with caves and blowholes. The scenery is wonderful and rugged, and the hikes around there very worthwhile. We did a part of the Cathedral Cave walk with views from every ledge.

As we returned from the trip up the Peninsular we travelled through the Karagahake Gorge. A very fast flowing river ran through the mountains cutting a gorge which was scenic with its towering cliffs.

When we stopped at the little village we decided to do the hike across the swing bridge. We were amazed at what we saw. The site was used in the early 1900 ‘s as a very productive gold mine and there were ruins of huge stamp mills and shafts etc built into the gorge. But more amazing is that they hued tunnels along the precipice and walkways for the horses to pull the coco pans of ore along narrow ledges and the mine openings were meters away from the rushing river. These same pathways are now hiking trails, and as you walk along the solid rock ledges you realize that only about 250 men worked on these mines and hewed out this amazing infrastructure. You climb high into the mountain thro solid rock, and there are tunnels with openings for light where you gaze at the narrow tracks below and marvel at the strength and industriousness of those miners.