Stinky Thermal Pools, Redwoods & Maori VillageAfter spending four nights in Auckland, we got ready to travel to our next destination - the small town of Taupo, situated approximately 3 hours south of Auckland, on a lake by the same name. Once we left Auckland we were in constant awe of the views - tons of green rolling hills peppered with cows and sheep. We took a small detour on the way to Taupo to stop by the town of Matamata for lunch. For many Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit fans, Matamata is probably very high on the list of places to visit as this is where the Shire (the Hobbit village) is based. As I am not a big fan (I've never even seen the movies), we skipped the 80 NZD tour of the set and instead snapped some photos of the Information Center which, aside from the movie set, is the only LOTR themed building in the town. After around 4 hours of driving, we arrived in Taupo and found our Airbnb house. Our room was pretty spacious with large windows overlooking Lake Taupo and the nearby mountains. We found it a tad messy and dusty, which bothered us but then again, the views more than made up for it. The hosts were a very nice young couple with a well trained dog. On our first night we went for a walk to the town center and ended the evening with dinner at Cobb & Co restaurant, which claims to be New Zealand's oldest chain restaurant. On Monday, October 27th, 2014, we drove about 35 minutes north towards Rotorua to a thermal park called Wai-O-Tapu. This park is something you will understand better once you see my photos (or go there and see it with your own eyes). The park is an active geothermal area covered with collapsed craters, cold and boiling pools of mud, water, and steaming fumaroles. Because of sulfur, Wai-O-Tapo smells like rotten eggs but that is something you forget very quickly as you start discovering the amazing sites. The following day we visited Rotorua again for a relaxing stroll in the redwoods and for a Maori show at Mitai Maori Village. Maori are the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand with a very interesting culture. They are known for intricate body and face tattoos as well as the war dance called the Haka, which nowadays is used mainly for sporting events (All Blacks national NZ rugby union team does it best). About 16% of New Zealand population are Maori although it is worth noting that there are no longer 100% pure Maori left. In comparison to Australia's Aboriginals, Maori people are visible in every day New Zealand life; they are on TV and hold political office positions. New Zealanders actually pride themselves in treating indigenous people well after the settlement (or at least better than they were treated in other places). Overall Rotorua area was a very fun place to visit. Too bad it was too cold for us to jump in one of the thermal pools (you can find some along the Lake Taupo). Maybe next time. The Drive
Taupo
Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Park
Redwoods
Mitai Maori Village
Comments
ewa(non-registered)
ah the Shire! probably my #1 reason to visit NZ :)
though i must say those thermal lakes look intriguing... what a scenery there! love every photo! thank you for interesting info! xoxo
@Gabu - We also loved maori style tattoos but feel like we would be such posers for getting those. The thermal lakes were not toxic at all! haha. Vlad's finger was fine. It was just hot water. We did not touch the green lake though, it was not accessible.
@Vanessa - If you have the time we would very much recommend New Zealand. Wait till our Queenstown post is ready, that place blew our minds. It was super gorgeous. NZ is a beautiful country.
Vanessa(non-registered)
WOW...that lake/river looked so cool. It really did look like blue jelly. All your pictures are making me seriously consider NZ for our honeymoon!
Question, when you're driving around these places, are you old schooling it with a paper map? Or did you guys purchase data plans and use your phones for GPS?
Gabu(non-registered)
This is so cool. I love the look/culture of the Maori people. Fun fact: Rihanna's hand tattoo was actually done in NZ and is a Maori pattern!!! The more you know... Those thermal lake things look toxic, did Vlad's fingers fall off after he touched that puddle?
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