Rotorua - the sights, smells and sounds...

New Zealand is known for many things and one of them is geothermal springs and one of the best places to experience them is in Rotorua. I went there a couple of weeks ago and the first thing I noticed getting out of my car is the allways present smell of sulphur aka rotten eggs. Instead of being annoyed by it it sort of reminded me of Esbjerg. Well, now that has come to and end for Esbjerg hasn't it? I visited the Rotorua Museum which is the old bath house from the 1800 hundreds. Europeans discovered the healing powers of the thermal pools and this resulted in bath houses all over the place. Not as grand as this one but many people came to heal different alements.

The Rotorua Museum - the old bath house

The area was also famous for it's pink and white terraces (Otukapuarangi meaning the fountain of the clouded sky and Te Tarata meaning the tattooed rock in Maori.). They were considered to be the 8th wonder of the world and were formed large amounts of siliceous sinter spouting from the geysers leaving silica deposits. The were sadly destroyed in the 1886 eruption of Mount Tarawera which could be heard as far away as Blenheim and the effects of the ash in the air were observed as far south as Christchurch, over 800 km south. In Auckland the sound of the eruption and the flashing sky was thought by some to be an attack by Russian warships.

It must have been beautiful...



Painting of the terraces...

After reading a bit about the history I went out into the Goverment Gardens. A very pruned park with a few hot pools. The smell of eggs was especially strong there. Yum...! Maori cook food in the ground where there is thermal activity. Sometimes in the hot pools. It is called hangi and taste fantastic!

Cool to think this is a vent from the core of the Earth...

I visited Ohinemutu. A small Maori village by Lake Rotorua. I am absolutely blown away by the wood carvings Maori do. The small church was filled with wood carved ornaments and the marae (meeting house) is one of the most amazing houses I have ever seen. I had a really nice talk with a young woman about the history of the place and also a bit about Danish history. We also talked about different kinds of tourist and she told me that a lot of German people visit the village. While we were talking 5 people came into the village and well what ya know? German tourists!! Are there any left in Germany I wonder....?

A little interesting thing about the church is that all the graves are on top of the ground. It is not possible to bury people in the ground because of the thermal activity.

The church



The marae in Ohinemutu

The faces on the marae scare evil spirits away.

The last thing I saw was the mud pools. They look really tempting to hop into but after a few minutes you'll be boiled and ready for eating so I resisted. I really wish I could put a smelly picture in here. It's a "treat" for your nose I tell ya...!

Mud frogs lept all over the pool...

Don't you just love the sound...?