Travel Blog: Tauranga, or Should We Say Rotorua?

We didn’t do a tour out of Auckland when we arrived from our overland, but walked around the waterfront a little. There’s a lot of construction going on as they are building a subway system, but we walked out toward the marinas and Silo Park. We sailed out in a beautiful day, bound for Tauranga.

Another stop at Umi Uma for dinner. The sushi always
looks so appetizing.

On the drive out to Rotorua, where most of our touring would be done, we got a good commentary from our bus driver/guide about the extent of produce that is grown in the area. Lots of variety, but especially interesting was the Chinese gooseberry, better known as Kiwi fruit. The name change was a marketing ploy – at the time New Zealand started growing and exporting them, anything Chinese was distinctly out of favour, so the growers got together and renamed them, hoping that would make them more ‘palatable’. Obviously it worked, because New Zealand now exports 4 ½ BILLION Kiwi Fruit per year…They were growing in large orchards, almost like vines in wine country, but on stringers.

Kiwi bushes on stringers

The tour we had booked for the day was a unique experience – Eco-Rail Cruising and a visit to the Pohutu Geyser in Rotorua. Eco-Rail Cruising was invented by the couple who still own the business. They took over a stretch of rail line that had been used for passenger service between Tauranga and Rotorua from the 1890s until 2001, and created these small hybrid-fuel cars to run on the track as a scenic ride through the Dansey Native Forest. Speed and narration are computer controlled. One of the passengers is assigned the hand-brake for emergencies and when the car has to come to a stop for exiting, but that’s all that needs to be done. It is an interesting ride, although picture-taking only works well when the car is moving away from the sun. We did have fun, though.

The Railcruiser cars

Views of the Dansey Native Forest

Part way through the ‘cruise’ we stopped to get some exposure to Maori culture and handiwork from a teacher named Mareanna. She explained a lot about how they used natural materials and turned them into reed, rope, and weavings to make everything from nets and baskets to ceremonial clothing, and also gave us yet more background on the Maori people and their origins in Havai’i. We’re getting to the point where we can do talks on this ourselves….but it is amazing how well preserved the oral history has remained.

Mareanna with her samples of Maori items

Showing a skirt made from hollow grasses that makes
a whooshing sound when you walk. This is a modern
item, as the early Maori moved as silently as possible
whenever they could.

A club made from pounamou, very hard
greenstone that is native to New Zealand

We finished the ride back, and were given lunch before we traded places with the other half of the tour group, and headed to Rotorua to visit Te Puia, the Maori Cultural Centre and Geothermal Springs.

A tree fern, very common in all the woodlands of
New Zealand, and just as interesting from underneath
as from the other side.

Our lunch: ham and cheese rolls, chicken sandwich and
a beef pie with blue cheese potato topping.

As we were a little early for our guided tour, our driver took us in to Rotorua city, where we stopped at the Government Gardens for a few minutes to stretch our legs. It was a very beautiful spot.

The Rotorua Museum, was visited by Harry and Megan when
they were here, but is now closed to reinforce the structure
against earthquake.

The Tea Rooms

At Te Puia, the first place we went was to the Pohutu Geyser, as it was somewhat active at the time and, as our guide said, could change at any minute. It can spew boiling water up to 50 metres in the air, which must be spectacular. It was impressive enough just to see the smaller spurts that we did.

And afterwards we toured the Maori Cultural Centre, which, rather than being a museum of cultural artifacts, is more a workshop where students and artists are creating Maori cultural items, from wood carvings to weaponry to adornments and clothing. Some of this is done in the traditional methods, but some is done using more modern tools. It is a good way to keep the interest in the history and culture of the Maori people alive for the current generation.

The cultural centre also has a display of live kiwi birds, but as they are nocturnal they live in a dark area.
This is an example of one....we did see one at the centre. It is part of a program to increase the
numbers of kiwi birds in the wild, on islands that have been cleared of
any potential predators.