Whakarewarewa – A place for the scent
Sulphur City
When you reach Rotorua, the first thing that strikes you as you open the car door is the smell! It is not called Sulphur City for nothing!
The Maori name for Rotorua is “Te Rotorua-nui-a-Kahumatamomoe, The second great lake of Kahumatamomoe”. As its name says, it is on the shores of Lake Rotorua, but as I said that is not what strikes you first even though the vista are beautiful as you arrive!
Thermal waters and activities are part of Rotorua’s appeal. There are geysers and hot bubbling mud pools around the area and they give the city its “smell” due to all the hydrogen sulphide emissions that abound. Of course I had to stay close by to the worst area ! Most hotel rooms are sprayed with perfume to cover the smell for us poor tourists who are not used to it.
But that is not all of Rotorua. It has developed to become a major tourist destination with all sorts of activities from the tame walks, to water based activities such as fishing water skiing, to crazy ones like “Zorbing”. I will let you look this us up, but let’s say it involves enclosing yourself in a plastic balloon and being let loose down a hill!
You can also visit Whakarewarewa a Maori village built around the geysers and mud pools giving you a small, tourist, taste of Maori villages and culture in the area.
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