NEW YEAR'S DAY 2010

After our adventurous hike to the Wairere Falls the previous day, we decided to take it a little easier on New Year’s day. We drove to the town of Rotorua which is a highly commercialized tourist attraction. Just about everything is located behind walls and fences with large billboards and colorful brochures explaining just enough to say that they is something behind the wall to see. Rotorua is known to be a Maori culture capital – if you are interested in learning about the Maori culture and want to see it, you can do that in Rotorua (for a small price), for a little more you can have it explained to you, and for an extra fee you can see a demonstration, and finally, you can buy a souvenier. We weren’t that interested. But they did have a few things that we were interested in. Most of the things we enjoy are not listed in the “Attractions” section of the city tour brochure.

We started with a long slow walk through a redwood forest.

The redwood trees are not native, but were planted well over 100 years ago from California seedlings.

They appear to have adapted very well. In fact the climate reminded us a lot of the Santa Clara valley.

Looking up it was near impossible to see the top of them.

Even the tree ferns had to grow extra tall just to compete for some sun light.

The day was clear and warm – a perfect temperature. But there was plenty of shade under the trees, so we didn’t worry too much about sunburns.

We had a leisurely lunch under the redwoods, before moving on. It was so pleasant. Both of us could have stayed there all day – just for starters.

Contrary to what I said earlier, we did take in a little of the local culture in Rotorua. This government building is situated near the sulfur fields near the city center.

The “white” water in this lake is from the sulfur “tainted” water. Most of the lake was clear, but there was enough sulfur to stink up the entire city.

Geo-thermal field is one of the other “attractions” of Rotorua… if you’re attracted to smelling sulfur. This pool is a by-product of the on-going thermal eruptions in and around Rotorua. The white foreground is from dead vegetation.

We didn’t stay long in Rotorua, but found a beautiful blue lake about 15 kilometers out of town. It is called “Blue Lake.” It is a favorite recreation area for locals. Having no sulfur odor, I could understand why.

There was a 5-K path that went all the way around the lake, which we decided to explore. We were so glad we did. Every turn gave us a new view that was just delightful.

At one end of the lake was a beautiful white sandy beach backed up by acres of green grass.

The other end of the lake was a piney wood that was full of wild flowers and birds, and… us.

We finished our day, by treating ourselves to fish and chips from a local shop, which we ate picnic style under the trees. YUM.