Rotorua, New Zealand

In Rotorua, you can nudge the budget and enjoy luxurious retreats or experience nature and history for the low price of a ticket. This unusual and fascinating place is hot stuff!

Waimangu Volcanic Valley, Rotorua.

Set amid a beautiful environment of native bush on the edge of town, Rainbow Springs Nature Park offers a great combo of natural elements and species to discover while strolling the property.

The park has been recognised for its conservation work, particularly raising kiwi chicks for release back into the wild. The natural water springs here are home to four species of wild trout and you can come face to face with them at the underwater viewer.

There are native plants to discover, including more than 100 varieties of ferns, and a wide range of protected birds to see. A night walk through the park is when you’ll see kiwi scampering in the brush and adult and juvenile tuatara – New Zealand’s ancient ‘dinosaur’.

Visit: www.rainbowsprings.co.nz and www.kiwiencounter.co.nz

Waimangu Volcanic Valley

This extraordinarily amazing place will knock your walking socks off. There’s geothermal activity happening here (see above), and despite the entire precinct looking like it has been active since Jurassic times, it’s all pretty new. Waimangu Volcanic Valley was formed in June 1886 by the Tarawara eruption. All along the walking tracks are evocative pictures of what the area was like before, and while the eruption was occurring. This is the world’s largest hot spring – and no, don’t put your toe in! It’s far too hot!

The area includes Frying Pan Lake; Inferno Crater with its mysterious, cycle of filling, overflowing and emptying; Cathedral Rocks still venting steam; and vague plumes of steam floating around the surface of the ground. Combine your bush walking with a cruise on Lake Rotomahana on the boat Moana.

Visit: www.waimangu.com

Peppers On The Point

After a day of walking through a volcanic valley, forging your way through the history of erupting mountains and worrying about what activity to do next, isn’t it time to
put your feet up – preferably on a feather pillow?

Peppers on the Point is an elegant property sitting on the edge of Lake Rotorua. The place is intimate and cosy.

The accommodation is luxurious with stunning views of the ever changing personality of the lake. The lodge has retained the subtle charm of the 1930s but the hospitality is timeless.

Fine wining and dining is the feature here, and you can dine privately or join other guests for great food and conversation in the dining room. Breakfast is a treat too, wherever on the property you care to partake it.

And that’s not all – the spa links to Rotorua’s spa heritage with treatments and therapy to soothe the troubled soul.

Visit: www.onthepoint.co.nz

and there's more

Other lovely combos to enjoy in and around Rotorua include a visit to Rotorua Museum to discover the essence of the area – its people, culture and volcanic landscape. The museum features fascinating stories and legends from the past and the present that have shaped this region. Designed along the lines of an elegant Bath House, the museum was once the Great South Seas Spa that drew people to take the ‘cure’ in the mineral waters drawn from nearby springs.

Visit: www.rotoruamuseum.co.nz

Holiday in Rotorua and eat, drink, bathe, discover and be merry! Gourmet food at restaurants and cafes is the norm, activities will fill every hour of the day and sophisticated spas will keep you in town longer than planned – and why not?

Visit: www.rotoruanz.com

Where In The World

Located in the centre of the North Island of New Zealand, Rotorua is well-connected to the rest of NZ.

The writer, Bev Malzard, was a guest of Rotorua Tourism and flew to New Zealand with Virgin Pacific Blue.