Sarah WallockCertain places have a distinct and lingering smell: New York notoriously smells like garbage, Fez, Morocco smells like leather tanneries (dead animals), and Rotorua, New Zealand smells like sulfur. At first, I could barely smell the sulfuric odor, but the closer we got to the hot pools the more pungent the odor.
As Nick and I drove down to Rotorua, I was excited to see the configuration of the city and how the geothermal activity informed the city’s development. After driving south of Auckland through miles of farmland, rolling green hills, and forests, we arrived in the 55,000 person city of Rotorua. Like many of the “big” cities in New Zealand, it had 3 main streets concentrated with food, shopping, and local businesses. Our friends in Auckland had told us about the Skyline Luge, a fast-paced Switzerland-style mountain Luge ride over-looking the city, and we saw it as we drove into the CBD. Our first stop was Kuirau Park, a central-city park with free hot springs, geothermal activity, and mud pools. It was so cool! And with the geothermal activity comes the pungent sulphuric smell that permeates throughout the area. We walked around the park and we were captivated by the pools. This photo series was inspired by the reflections of the trees on the water. I am particularly interested in the relationship between the moss/sub-surface scum, the water, and the reflections.
The free pools were situated in the middle of the park. Visitors could dip their feet into the shallow 2-foot pools.
After enjoying our first taste (and smell) of Rotorua while at the park, we drove to Government Gardens, the central manicured gardens by Lake Rotorua. At this point, we were starting to see how curated the city was. All of the lawns were perfectly manicured in Government Gardens and in Kuirau Park, all of the hot pools were lovingly contained in fences and the necessary information was demarked. Rotorua was definitely a change from the high-energy and urban life of Auckland. Both are intriguing in different ways. Rotorua’s focus is on preserving history and geological diversity, while Auckland’s focus is on maintaining its status as a global city and expanding its urban reach from transportation to diverse cuisine.
After walking through Government Gardens, we went back to the Luge. First, we took a gondola up to the Rotorua Skyline. I love a good gondola ride, so this was a treat! At the top, we entered a curated-commercialized walkway with restaurants, gift shops, and more opportunities to buy adventure packages! Although it felt a little in-your-face, the view was great. We went down the mountain for a Luge ride and it was so much fun! I would definitely do it again. We picked up much more speed than I anticipated. It seems like in the summer there are more opportunities for sports like ziplining and mountain biking.
Overall, I think Rotorua was a great day trip and I feel as though we saw a large portion of it in one day. The Luge was especially memorable and maybe when we are in Queenstown, we will make our way up to the Queenstown Skyline to compare notes.
