When I finally arrived in Roturua, I got off the bus and realized my hostel was further away than I expected! So it was a long walk with my heavy bags (I did acquire camping gear on the way...). And it had started smelling of sulphur from the moment we entered the city. Roturua is on the shore of a lake with many hot swamps, hot baths, all hot and smelly from the high volcanic activity around the area or simply generally New Zealand.
In the city there are a lot of Maori places, villages and so on. You can visit these and see Maori culture, hear more about the history and stuff like that. Many have been living around the lake, because it gives many good sources for food and the hot springs give needed warmth around the winter time and with the minerals and so on, that are in the water, it is very soothing and heals different illnesses, like colds, pain in different areas and so on. According to the lady on a tour in the Maori Village it is great for maaaany things, just amazing. Old people should come over, enjoy some baths and would be cured for some time. So many Maori had settled around here long ago. And as soon as the british found these natural hot springs they built bathhouses and so on.
Otherwise there are many other nice things around the city. The forests offer many walks, the islands and surroundings are simply part of many stories, legends and culture of the Maori. Many national parks are around and that makes it a nice natural place, though it is smelly! You just walk around town and suddenly a harsh smell of rotten eggs flys by and slaps you in the face.
While I was there I also did a tour of a maori village (as mentioned above). It was pretty interesting! We were guided by a woman, who has lived in the village for almost all her life. She told us about how people lived there, how they cook (using the hot springs), bath and evolved their culture. With the first europeans arriving also did christianity so the village I visited had 2 churches and they burried the dead (though not very deep because the ground simply isn't deep, you reach a hot spring pretty fast). The one I visited was an actual village, people have been living there for a long time and still do! Most other centres are no villages, but built exclusively for tourism, recreating old huts and so on. I had a nice time there, the guide had nice stories to tell, was witty and made the tour fun. It ended at a viewing platform to see the biggest geyser in the Rotorua region. WE had just missed the eruption, so I went back home instead of waiting another 30-60 minutes.
But main reason for me to stop here was of course Hobbiton! I'll make an extra post for that ;-)
Surely, while I was there I realised Rotorua is a nice place! Definitely a place to visit, maybe relax in the natural hot baths, learn alot about the maori culture and history, see some nice geysers and walk around in the national parks. Great place to relax =)
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen