New Zealand Day Fifteen: Roaming The Woods, Waters And Roads Of Rotorua

When I awoke my first morning in Rotorua I was undecided where I was going to hike. There were many options. This would be my only full day in the town. I wanted to see the lake and downtown later in the day. So I decided to stay near the town for my morning hike. I was told the Redwoods,  Whakarewarewa Forest, was a nice place to hike.

They forest is  located about five miles from my hotel. I hired a taxi to drop me off at the park entrance. It was early, before sunrise when I began my walk.

I wasn’t the first one walking  under the towering redwoods that morning. There were a few groups of Chinese tourists already exploring the majestic beauty of these imported California giants.

This grove of trees was  planted in 1901.  The park is part of a larger commercial tree growing enterprise. A number of other trees from around the world were planted in the park around the same time. There were also native trees, ferns and flowers growing along the trails. I left the giant redwoods and followed the heavily wooded trail.

I found some strange  berries,

and other flowers growing  along the trail.

There were not a lot of birds on the trail. I saw a few New Zealand robins . I was hoping to see more.

The trail climbed upward. There was a view of the lake in the distance near the high point of the climb.

There were now more people hiking on the trail.  I followed it back down to the visitor center at the park entrance. I took a quick walk on the redwood treewalk bridges. The tree bridges were suspended from the redwood trees.  I learned so much more about these giant trees from the information provided on the walk. Here is a link to a gallery with some more photos from my hike. New Zealand Day Fifteen Redwood Forest hike February 20 2019.

After the tree walk I called a taxi to drive me back to the hotel . The driver convinced me to take a short ride to scenic Lake Rotokakahi or Green lake. I took a quick hike along its shore.  I returned to my hotels around noon, just in time for lunch. And what a delicious lunch it was. I had a very large seafood salad.

After a quick shower and a short rest I was on the hotel shuttle. I was going to spend the afternoon exploring downtown Rotorua.  The shuttle dropped us off at the iSITE information center.

I walked through the busy streets of the resort town and made my way to the Government Gardens.

  Once a famous bathhouse the resort now houses a museum and is surrounded by the beautiful flower gardens.

There were many charming buildings on  the grounds of the gardens.

One could spend many hours in the grounds of this beautiful park.  

I walked through the gardens and on to the a trail that followed the shores to  Lake Rotorua along a geothermal active area.

The sky become mostly overcast as I walked through a desolated  area of small geysers and geothermal vents.

I was surprised to see more birds here than I did in the redwood forest in the morning. I saw my first pukekos feeding in the grass of an adjoining golf course.

The trail  came to a small park on Lake Rotorua.

Here, I found all kind of water birds including a some black swans,

New Zealand scaups,

flocks of seagulls,

a little shag 

and even some Canada geese.

I walked to the pier. Here  I found crowds of people enjoying the late  Summer afternoon. Here is a link to a gallery with more photos from my hike. New Zealand Day Fifteen. Lake shore walk February 20 2019

I left the lake and walked into the town to explore its streets.

I came to a local church.

And a Maori cultural building.

It was amazing to see geothermal vents in the middle of the town.

I made my way into another geothermal park where I found more lakes of boiling water. 

I walked through a small park, again filled with people enjoying the Summer afternoon.

It was getting late so I headed back to the iSITE information center for my ride back to the hotel.

My walk took me through the restaurant area of Rotorua. I originally planned to eat downtown. I was hungry.   I had walked over 10 miles.  But I was more  tired and I wanted to get back to my hotel.  Here is a link to some more photographs from my hike in town. New Zealand Day Fifteen Downtown hike February 20 2019.

At the hotel I enjoyed a very nice dinner at the buffet.  It was a long day and I was soon in my room. I had a glass of wine with dinner and it didn’t take me long to fall asleep, It was  another great day on the other side of the planet.

Other than the gushing of geysers and gurgling mud pools, the dominant sound today is the recurrent clatter of log trucks, distributing the wealth of world’s largest hand-planted pine forest.

Rotorua Lookabout Nataration from a short film. 

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