New Zealand: Rotorua

Rotorua was to be our base of operations for the day, as members of our group scattered off to different prearranged and ad-hoc activities and locations. (See previous New Zealand posts.)

My wife went to the Waitomo Glow Worm Caves; where bioluminescent fungus gnat larvae dot the walls and ceilings.

I went on a self-guided walk to explore Rotorua’s geothermal features.

Rotorua’s is on the edge of a caldera lake — site of a massive prehistoric volcanic blowout. The magma’s still hot enough and close enough to the surface to dot the town with many fumaroles, boiling mud pots, and small sputtering geysers.

For example, the lovely Kuirau Park was literally across the street from the YHA where we stayed; it’s a small, nicely-landscaped urban park filled with carefully maintained flowerbeds, trees, open lawns, sculptures, statues and, oh by the way, a variety of actively smoking, steaming, geothermal ponds and vents.

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The emitted sulphur made the park smell a little like fireworks or black powder.

Lots more pix and short videos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/CZAMM1zb5ctrQqGy8

From there, I walked to the lakefront, where more vents were steaming and bubbling…

… and across the city center to Sulphur Point and vicinity, where there’s lots of thermal activity. Short video example: https://photos.app.goo.gl/zcEMowacprXmfQ3B9

Several more pix and videos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/rkDAbhYd2bVsABPP7

After lunch, I walked back to the YHA to join a forest canopy tour I’d signed up for — zip-lining through one of the last remaining (and now protected) stands of virgin forest in NZ.

It was excellent. I’d never zip-lined before, so there was the sheer amusement-park fun to it. But the folks running the tours are very knowledgeable about the plants and animals of the forest; and the company — Rotorua Canopy Tours — takes its stewardship of the forest seriously. A lot of the tour’s well-informed narration was about the plants, animals, and forest preservation.

But did I mention it was fun? 🙂 Stepping off the platform for the first time — having to totally trust the hardware — is an interesting moment. But once our group got comfortable, and the suspended length between trees got longer (as we made our way, zipline by zipline, treetop to treetop, in a long loop around the forest, never touching the ground along the way), the tour guides encouraged us to try new ways to zip — hands-free, backwards, and even upside down.

Did I mention it was fun? I mean, just look at the grin on this idiot’s face!

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A few more pix, and short videos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/kcVdnLGNfBaaQG2j9

Later that evening, we all trouped to Eat Streat again, and then to our respective beds.

Next: The Te Puia Maori Cultural Center; and a night in a rural Maori family lodge.

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