Rotorua Part 1: Kuirau Park and Whakarewarewa Forest

Last weekend, J and I went to Rotorua, which is 4 hours north-east of us, meaning that it is most of the way across the North Island. It is also a very geothermically active part of the world, which means all kinds of exciting things to see. Unfortunately, due to the "active" sulfur all around, it also means that it is quite stinky. However, I find that smells are not intolerable for too long, and in this case it was completely worth it.

Although we were very excited to be in Rotorua and see all the attractions, we were also intent on taking things slow and relaxing. So we did (I think), a good job of balancing activities and relaxing in the hotel doing nothing. Which was lovely and well-needed.

On the first day there, we headed down to the local market in Kuirau Park. Coincidentally, this park also has lots of geothermal activity, so we got to have some fun with that. 

The first thing we saw was this bubbling mud, which reminded both J and I of "The Bog of Eternal Stench" from David Bowie's Labyrinth. And yes, it did stink, but it was also very interesting to watch the mud continually move and bubble and explode.

I actually took this picture for my kindergarteners, who are currently enthralled with the adventures of my friend Āwhina the Hippo (puppet), who comes and tells them stories partially in Māori of all the exciting things that she does. Anyway, here she is posing on a pretty bridge in Kuirau Park of which I  forgot to take any non-hippo pictures.

J has always had a love for street food, especially Japanese street food, so we were delighted to find authentic Japanese okonomiyaki in the Rotorua market! The okonomiyaki is the food on the left, and it is a a pancake sort of thing, but with anything delicious you want in it - noodles, cabbage, rice, egg, pork, mochi, squid, etc. We were introduced to them when we were in Osaka, Japan, and haven't had any since, so we were very excited! On the right is a dumpling, which is not particularly unique, but it was delicious!

We did a little exploring in the shops in town centre, which was nice. Our favourite part was this jade store, and especially this beautiful and shockingly huge piece of jade.

Next, we went walking in the Whakarewarewa Forest, which is a redwood forest. The first trees were planted over 100 years ago by Europeans, and they are amazing! It was such a beautiful place to walk, and the ground was lovely and springy from all the fallen bits.

We love fern trees! We learned some new and fascinating things about them on this trip, which I will share later. In the meantime, it was raining a bit on and off, and I thought that this one would be quite an effective umbrella for J.

As usual, we were thrilled to see the surprise of the silver underside of the ferns.

J exploring the forest.

See what I mean by huge? And there was one big one like this that was "The Mary Sutherland Memorial Redwood." There was a little plaque that told her story - she was the first woman Forestry Graduate in the world, graduating in 1916 from Bangor University in Wales. Later, she came to NZ and worked in the Whakarewarewa Forest.

This eerie blue stream was probably our favourite part of that first day. It was captivating and surreal.

After we both stared for quite a while, J said, "I have an idea!" He borrowed my camera and took this very special picture. Do you notice the trick? It's upside down! The crazy blue of the water plays tricks on my mind, so that even though I've looked at the picture loads of times, I have to keep reminding myself which was is up.

This is zoomed in on the surface of the water, which is so clear that you don't even see it and so you look right through to these ghostly shapes within it. I do not understand the science that makes them white like that, but perhaps it is best that way.

Consider this a continuation of my love affair with ferns of all shapes and sizes. I just can't get enough of them, and I have always particularly loved the rare occasions when the light comes through just perfectly like this, and you get to see their silhouettes.

After a somewhat more intense hike than we had anticipated, we came to this lookout, which I thought would be uninspiring due to the somewhat rainy conditions, but the mist ended up adding to the experience. I could imagine that the blurred distance is the edge of the world.

After that, we chilled out in the cozy hotel for a bit, then went out to a fantastic Japanese restaurant for one of the best dinners we've had in a long time. If you're ever in Rotorua, go to Yamoto Japanese Restaurant. We were walking by it in the afternoon and J said, "Oh look, Japanese! Looks authentic!" A couple came by and was heading into the restaurant, and the lady grinned and said, "It is authentic. And wonderful! You should eat here!" We were delighted both with the review and with the friendliness, and so we went back for our delicious dinner, and it was a great end to a great day.