aybe for folks who grew up near Old
Faithful, a viewing of the Pohutu Geyser on New Zealand's North
Island can be taken more or less in stride.
But it must be difficult for even the most hardened and
nature-savvy to be blase about natural springs so hot Maori have
used them to cook for centuries, hot-water ponds so loaded
with minerals they look like an artist's palette or boiling
mudpools and tiny mud volcanoes.
Rotorua, an old spa town of 64,700, is right in the heart of
this hotbed of geothermal activity -- so close the place smells of
sulphur.
Before planning my trip to Kiwiland, I consulted with Donna
Thomas, a longtime specialist on the country and managing director
of New Zealand Travel in Langhorne, Pa.
I took her advice on many things, such as sampling a "true"
hangi (traditional dinner cooked in an earth oven) on a real marae
(fortified Maori village) using the services of Tamaki Tours, but
-- with apologies to the expert -- I wound up staying in town at
the Royal Lakeside Novotel Rotorua.
It is not the quaint charmer among properties sampled elsewhere,
but a comfortable, modern accommodation offering a tradeoff. It is
within walking distance of in-town attractions, such as the Bath
House (an old spa center converted to a museum) and the Streat,
with emphasis on the "eat" part of the word, as this is Rotorua's
tiny restaurant row. Also, fortunately, one does not notice the
smell of sulphur after a short while.
A sampling of the region's highlights follows:
• Rotorua Museum of Art and History, formerly the Bath House.
Its displays films and give background on native Maori people and
on Rotorua itself, which was popular with European visitors as
early as the 19th century.
One film tells of Te Wairoa, the village covered in volcanic ash
in the 1886 eruption of Mount Tarawera; tourists can visit the
excavations.
The half-timbered 1908 Bath House, set in the Government
Gardens, is a striking building in its own right.
• New Zealand Maori Arts and Crafts Institute. The institute is
set in the Whakarewarewa Thermal Reserve in Rotorua, and, if a
client can see only one attraction here, this is it because it
offers a cross section of everything for which the region is
famous.
There is, first, the dramatic Pohutu Geyser, which shoots water
up as high as 100 feet; nearby are a spring of clear, boiling water
(used by Maori to cook) and boiling mudpools, giving further
testimony to nature's underground turmoil here.
The institute also boasts a number of typical Maori buildings,
beautifully carved by hand; one is a traditional meeting house and
the setting for daily culture shows.
• Polynesian Spa. Situated on the shore of Lake Rotorua in the
town's Government Gardens, this facility invites guests to soak in
a choice of 35 pools, featuring either alkaline or acidic mineral
waters and a range of temperatures, all hot. Massage and skin-care
therapies are available.
I toured the facilities and sampled pools in the deluxe Lake Spa
Retreat, most often the choice of Americans, my host said. It
offers four shallow rock-pools of alkaline water at varying
temperatures (96.8 degrees to 109.4 degrees), situated to offer a
clear view of the placid lake and its bird life from a watery
seat.
• Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. One must leave Rotorua to get a
fuller idea of the extent of thermal activity in the area. About 30
minutes from town, Wai-O-Tapu is home to the Lady Knox Geyser --
not as grand as Pohutu, but get this: More than a century ago,
prison laborers who bathed in the area realized their soap caused
the geyser to erupt so they began feeding the hole for the fun of
it. Today, it is fed every morning at 10:15 for tourists.
That's the introduction to Wai-O-Tapu, an area covered with
collapsed craters, which reveal hot, even boiling, and cold pools
of mud, water and steam.
• Hell's Gate. Also a few miles outside Rotorua, this 20-acre
thermal reserve offers a landscape of pools with names like Inferno
and Devil's Cauldron.
With mud as the theme, Hell's Gate also operates the WaiOra Spa,
where clients can sample mud baths, mud scrubs and mud masks for
the body.
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For more details on this article, see Nose to nose with Maori warriors.