The Rotorua Area

One thing that many New Zealanders and visitors share is a love-hate relationship with Rotorua (ro-to-roo-ah). It's the spurting geysers, sulfur springs, bubbling mud pools, and other thermal features that set this region apart—but with the sulfurous smell that hangs over the city, some say the farther apart the better. However, this unashamedly touristy town has capitalized on nature's gifts to become one of the country's most famous spots. The "Great South Seas Spa," as Rotorua was known, was among the earliest spa ventures in the country—as far back as the 1860s.

Rotorua sits on top of the most violent segment of the Taupo Volcanic Zone, which runs in a broad belt from White Island in the Bay of Plenty to Tongariro National Park south of Lake Taupo. Wherever you turn in this extraordinary area, the earth bubbles, boils, spits, and oozes. Drainpipes steam, flower beds hiss, jewelry tarnishes, and cars corrode. The rotten-egg smell of hydrogen sulfide hangs in the air, and even the local golf course has its own thermal hot spots where a lost ball stays lost forever.

The city's Maori community traces its ancestry to the great Polynesian migration of the 14th century through the Te Arawa tribe, whose ancestral home is Mokoia Island in Lake Rotorua. The whole area is steeped in Maori history and legend—for hundreds of years, the Maori have settled by the lake and harnessed the geological phenomena, cooking and bathing in the hot pools.

For stunning scenery and picturesque picnic spots, drive around Lake Rotorua. About halfway around the lake look for Hamurana Springs, a large area of land with free public access where crystal-clear water bubbles from springs forming a river that flows into the lake. Walking through this area you will see birdlife and pass through several groves of magnificent redwood trees.

The countryside near Rotorua includes magnificent untamed territory with lakes and rivers full of some of the largest rainbow and brown trout on Earth. Fishing is big business from here down through Taupo and on into Tongariro National Park. If you're dreaming of landing the "big one," this is the place to do it.