Sulphur Searching...

There wasn’t much cause to stop in Hamilton. A museum, a zoo, and a Mormon temple are among the top attractions. However, there is another option that offered us something more appealing.

We’d taken a Friday off work in reward for successfully Christmas shopping for 14 people on the previous weekends, and now sought a relaxing long weekend. The botanical gardens 3 km south of Hamilton city-centre seemed like the ideal place, both geographically and psychologically, to make our first stop on this journey. The place is a multitude of contemplation arenas brought from across the globe and its ages. A Chinese scholar’s garden from around the 11th century is a good place to start, before you drift, ‘Shoin’ style, into the Japanese offering of Zen. Moving forward, we passed through the Italian Renaissance, felt more at home in 19th century England, and ended up in American modernism. Ironically, as the world changed around us, it felt that time stopped and our stress evaporated. Our only reason for finally moving on was the hunger that awoke us from this state. Our stomachs craved similarly deep nourishment to that our minds had received and we retreated to the car seeking sustenance.

We made the rest of the distance to ‘Rotorua’ in good time, and after a little phoning around, it wasn’t long before we were collapsed on our bed, and rejoicing in relaxation. We agreed that we wouldn’t worry about money this weekend (as much), and would consequently free ourselves from one of a traveller’s biggest concerns. Technically speaking, we haven’t been ‘travellers’ for some months now, but while we’re still seeing new things, have others still to see, and haven’t won the lottery, we still worried about the most cost effective way of doing everything. With our grand plans, this may remain our disposition for quite some years.

My parents had previously recommended the ‘Stone Grill Dining’ restaurant in ‘Rotorua’. There is another one in Auckland, not 20 metres from my office building, but as we were new in town, had no intention of cooking, and were getting hungry again, we went to that which was known. It didn’t disappoint. The novelty of this restaurant is the fact your food is brought to you, with the meat uncooked, and served on a slab of rock that has been heated to approximately 400 degrees Celsius by a custom designed oven. The extent of cooking (or secondary murder, in the case of steak) is then down to your discretion. Plate-licking is not recommended.

The next morning saw the only event that had a strict schedule, and therefore commanded some form of organisation and coordinated movement from us. At 10:15am every morning, the ‘Lady Knox Geyser’ at ‘Wai-O-Tapu’ begins her aquatic firework display to an audience drawn from afar. Those already sceptical of this reliably predictable event are correct to suspect. It seems ‘Mother Nature’ needs a little help these days, and is aided in this instance, by a few hundred grams of soap powder. This decreases the surface viscosity and sets off the show. Not exactly 100% natural, but at least it cuts down on the waiting and provides an impressive display.

If this did disappoint, then the rest of the ‘thermal wonderland’ would more than make up for it. I’ve never seen such amazing variety of colours in mud, lakes, and rocks. These included an amazing collection of pools and submerged terraces of incredible contrasting colours appropriately called ‘The Devil’s Paint Palette’, and the famous ‘Champagne Pool’ – a 60 metre wide explosion crater with bubbling green waters and deep orange borders.

On the way out, we stopped at the mud pools and spent far too long desperately trying (and mostly unsuccessfully), to capture the moment the mud bubbles burst, before returning to town. This left us the afternoon to explore the local thermal option, ‘Whakarewarewa’. It lacked dramatic impact after our morning’s viewings, but made up for it in cultural offerings – despite feeling somewhat Disney-like. There was a ‘Maori’ village, live sculpture carving, and an educational show demonstrating ‘Maori’ customs, dances, and songs. For lunch, we opted for the traditional ‘hangi’ – a mix of chicken and vegetables, wrapped in leaves and cooked underground.

In the evening, we reached the climax of relaxation - a post-dinner dip in the hot pools of the ‘Polynesian Spa’. This was built on the site of ‘Priest Springs’ and offered 31 hot mineral pools ranging in temperature and pH value, the majority of which overlook ‘Lake Rotorua’. We watched the clouds turn pink, the sky a deep orange, and the first stars appear. The air cooled and we sank deeper into the warmth. If we’d taken drinks along, we’d have stayed for hours.

The next day, we took the long way back to Auckland. Stopping first at the local adventure park, to see where ‘Zorbing’ was born, and then at ‘Kaituna Falls’ – a 7m drop that we intended to white-water raft over at a later date. Next it was an hour or two on the beach at the Bay of Plenty before a reluctant drive back to Auckland and an end to our break. We found ‘Rotorua’ to be a great escape with many colourful surprises and many adventures left to tackle. We never did quite get used to the sulphurous smell that engulfs the town, but it wasn’t as bad as we’d expected. The hint of eggs was there, but they weren’t quite rotten yet.