Rotorua doesn’t need a welcome sign at the town entrance. You know you’re there by the strong rotten eggs smell* that starts pervading your car as soon as you are within some kilometers of the towns center. The town, or better, the colorful, unique, warm geothermal active areas really are THE attraction in the north island, and the place where every tourist visiting New Zealand has to go at least for a day, or better for two or three. We decided to set our camp in the local tourist park, which to our surprise had it’s own two hot pools available and free to use for us campers: what seems a luxury in every other part of the world, is just a common amenity in this area, where hot water seems to spills out of every little rock and at every improbable place.

After browsing through a packful of brochures we received at the reception we decided to visit the Wai-O-Tapu geothermal area during the next day, and have a traditional dinner with show at a maori village called Mitai (one of the three very touristy shows on offer in this area – still absolutely a must – I mean one of the three).

At Wai-O-Tapu the day starts “early”. You have to drive for more than half an hour and be there in time for the queue at the ticket box, a short drive back the entry road and the walk to Lady Knox.  Lady Knox is the name of the geyser which erupts very punctually, daily, at exactly 10.15 am. The secret behind this punctuality and the name of the Geyser are the subject of a short introductory explanation which takes place just before the eruption. As soon as the water starts spilling into the air though, no one remembers the story or knows what was told some minutes before and wonders at this powerful spectacle of mother nature…Actually, if I had to guess, I would say about 85% of the people only saw the show on their handy or camera screen…. but anyways… Despite the decrease of intensity after just about a minute – which causes most of the hundreds of spectators to rush to their car – the geyser keeps erupting for another hour or so, which allows the patient people to take their pictures without having to fight for the best place and best shot.

With the same ticket procured before the eruption, you are entitled to enter the rest of the Wai-O-Tapu area and wonder at different colorful hot pools and rock formations. One of these is called “The Devil’s Home”. At this “hole” as we were taking pictures we encountered a swiss family observing the feature, and heard the about 6 year old child ask her mother: “Does the devil really live here?”. The beauty of the answer lied in the tone. As if it were the most normal thing in the world the mother replied quickly and firmly with a short “Yes.”. Well, I guess it must be true then 😉

In the evening we visited a recreation of a traditional maori village, beautifully set at the entrance of the woods. The show was nice, with the world-known Haka dance of course, the food was quite good and cooked more or less the traditional way by burying the food in the ground covered by hot stones previously heated on a big fire. There were glowworms too, but well, not nearly as impressive as you could encounter them in one of the caves (There is one in the north island on the west coast, and the other – which we visited – in the south island near Te Anau). But our personal highlight, and reason why we chose this village over others and would even recommend it, was the crystal clear sacred fairy spring. It already looks quite nice in the pictures, but seeing it in real was really amazing. The water is about 2m deep, but looks so incredibly clear as if it were just a couple of centimeters, and these colors…. there was even a trout hanging around by the spring as we visited….

To end our stay in Rotorua, on the third day, we headed out into the Redwood forest for a walk to burn some of the previous night’s traditional dinner calories. The forest is a real gem. For mountainbikers, hikers, and horse riders. Plenty of trails and viewing points, one of them with a nice view over the whole town. And the tall Californian red wood trees create a very interesting setting for a nice half day walk.

(*) unlike similar smells in, let’s say, Bali, the rotten egg smell obviously has natural causes here. It is the sulfur present in these volcanic areas coming from deep down in the earth – where the devil lives…