We arrived in Rotorua (North Island, New Zealand) from Sydney, Australia, on April 5 where we conveniently rented vehicles at the airport, returning them upon our flight out: 2 brand new Toyota Prado SUVs. With our GPS set up in each car, we were soon on our way through vast pasture lands where we spotted fluffs of white -- sheep herds -- to the delight of the little ones! We found our hostel in no time: Arista, family owned and personally managed. We had two cottages next to each other. Similar to our multi-level Katoomba cottage in the Blue Mountains, our lodgings have upper floor accommodations, with a big bed on the lower level (where I slept, while Allen's family stayed upstairs). There is a sitting area with a lounging sofa set and a flat tv, next to a fully equipped kitchen with a dining table for 4. Out on the back porch is a jacuzzi which we could not enjoy as the weather was too cold. (March is the official start of Autumn in this part of the globe.)
Rotorua is a geothermal hub with geysers spouting all around, from huge to tiny. We tried to catch the biggest geyser's "show" but with four little ones in tow, we never managed to be on time. So we went through Wai-O-Tapu (Sacred Waters) where one can come close enough to cauldrons of boiling mud, hissing steam-filled fumaroles, brilliantly colored lake craters, and spewing fissures over a vast expanse of the sinter terrace. You have to be there to experience it. However, be prepared for the sometimes suffocating sulfuric smell emanating from the landscape. Be sure to bring an umbrella, or wear a wide-brimmed hat and apply sunscreen lotion liberally on exposed skin. The ozone layer is at its thinnest in this part of the globe and we hardly have protection from the harmful rays of the sun -- at anytime of the day, in any season of the year.
But there is Waikite Valley Thermal Pools, a 10-pool complex with therapeutic mineral bathing waters from Te Manaroa Spring -- New Zealand's largest source of boiling hot water. However, the waters in the pools are cooled to bathing temperature and continually cleaned and refilled. Open 10am till 9pm daily. There are other more commercial baths and spas all over Rotorua. There are also sporting activities available, like white water river rafting and a forest canopy zipline adventure -- a three-hour activity through 1.2 km network of ziplines, swing bridges, walking trails and treetop platforms in an ancient forest. A cool green activity!
After dragging the little ones through the heat of Wai-O-Tapu, we treated them the next day to animal feeding and up-close encounters of the wildlife in Willowbank Wildlife Reserve. We fed eels and ducks in the water, deer and wallabies, horses and pigs, and silently watched the nocturnal kiwi in its habitat (in an almost pitch dark cave); other animals we were not allowed to feed as they could attack. What was fascinating was how these animals adapted to their new environment, after having been transported hundred of years ago by the colonizers. They have morphed physically into strange looking creatures altogether. Perhaps, the platypus is a graphic example. Certainly, hideous looking were the pigs and the eels. Somewhat disconcerting but downright educational.
The reason for our North Island visit was The Shire! We wound our way to Matata where Hobitton is the main attraction. Extant sets from the trilogy of the "Lord of the Rings" movies are maintained or reconstructed. The Hobbit village exists with its water mill and the quaint wooden bridge that leads to Dragon Inn where the dwarves quaffed steins of ale. (We were, in turn, served tankards of ginger beer and honey mead.) The vegetable and flower gardens surrounding the Hobbit houses on hillsides and knolls are tended by gardeners so that we walked through pumpkin patches with pumpkins too heavy for us to budge, cherry tomatoes peeking through the leaves in the vines, miniature fruit-laden apple trees, which are regularly harvested and partaken by the staff. The lovely blooms that carpeted the valley made the place magical. More magical were the many many butterflies fluttering around us -- sometimes in group of threes. You would expect the wizard Gandalf to appear around the next bend!
Curious little 5-yr-old Noah was opening the mailboxes at the gate of each Hobbit house, some opened while some others did not. Still Noah kept on his task till the last one. While the three girls -- 7-yr-old Meg, 4-yr-old Sab and 3-yr-old Liz were singing and dancing around the Maypole on the lea, holding on to their ends of the silken ropes. A charming scene of wanton childish mirth!
It was indeed untamed and magical -- our first brush with New Zealand in the North Island. (Next time: The South Island with the glacier in Mt. Cook.)