Rotorua

On February 10th, after work, I went to Rotorua for my first weekend trip with Sarah (she lives two streets away from me and we get along really well). We were lucky to be able to stay at Sarah's step-aunt's house, which saved us the cost of accommodation. We had the house to ourselves the whole weekend since she and her little daughter were with her partner for the weekend.
When we arrived in Rotorua on Friday, after a drive of about two and a half hours, we only went shopping and didn't do much on Friday evening.

The next day, we had a guided tour of a Maori village at 10 o'clock in the morning, where actual Maoris live! It was very interesting to see how the Maoris live and cook. The whole village is built on a volcano, so there are many 'Hot Pools' there, which means water that comes from the volcano and is naturally hot, up to 100 degrees Celsius. The Maoris use one of these hot pools to cook and another, not as hot, to bathe (we couldn't even keep our feet in for more than a few seconds because it was so hot, but the Maoris can bathe in it for up to 15 minutes). Then there are other hot pools that are more acidic and smell more, where you shouldn't bathe. The Maoris used to put the bodies in these hot pools and after about a year, when the skin and flesh of the bodies had been eaten away, they would take out the bones and bury them again. Fortunately, they don't do that anymore!!
After the guided tour, there was a small dance show by the Maoris, where they performed their traditional and ritual dances, such as the Haka.
After the dance, I treated myself to a corn cob cooked in the natural hot pool, which tasted surprisingly good :-D

After the Maori village, we still had some time, so we went to the beautiful Rotorua Lake until it was time for the White Water Rafting. The rafting took place on the Kaituna River, which has a 7-meter-high waterfall, among other things.
Luckily, we were only a small group for rafting: Sarah, me, and four Asians who didn't have swimwear or towels...
After some dry exercises, we went into the river in our boat accompanied by a kayaker who was either ahead or behind us, and of course an experienced guide. Because we were such a small group, we could take all the time in the world for rafting and also just take a swim in the river in between.
Shortly before the 7-meter waterfall, everyone got a little scared, but in the end, it was just a lot of fun and our boat didn't capsize and only one person fell out. A little later, when the boat went vertically up a rock wall on the side, Sarah also fell out :-D
In the end, everyone arrived safely and of course, we were proud that we all made it :-) It was a lot of fun and I would do it again anytime if I have the chance!

After the rafting, we still had plenty of time until evening, so we drove to the Kerosene Creeks in the middle of the forest. The Kerosene Creeks are hot pools where you can swim, and they look like a completely normal river, but the water is about 40 degrees Celsius warm, and it's completely natural! But afterwards, we smelled really bad and had to take a shower first.

The next day, we drove to the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Park. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't very good, so the craters and lakes didn't look so beautiful, as the water vapor was not rising vertically but being blown to the sides. The water in the hot lakes of Wai-O-Tapu was up to 100 degrees Celsius hot, and it all formed 160,000 years ago. Due to minerals such as sulfur, iron oxide, or others, the lakes are partly yellow, green, orange or white.
In addition to Wai-O-Tapu, there are also hot mud pools, which we also visited.

At noon, we naturally did the Luge. These are small sledges with which you can go down the mountain, and it's just a lot of fun! To get up, you take a gondola up and then you can ride down with the sledges and then go up again with a lift.
The beautiful Rotorua skyline can also be seen very well from the mountain.

After that, we unfortunately had to head back to Auckland. On the way back, we stopped at the Blue Spring. It is a river that has incredibly beautiful and clear water. It just looks beautiful!
Then we drove back to Auckland, where work was waiting for us the next day.

Rotorua is such a beautiful (even though it really stinks) and diverse city where you can do a lot. For me, it was definitely a successful first weekend trip! :-)

Sending love home ♥