Rotorua: Boiling Mud And Urban Volcanoes
We’ve read several times that as you approach Rotorua, it’s possible to smell the town before you ever see it. Well it’s not strictly true but the pungent odour of sulphur hits us as soon as we open the car door and, as we are to discover, permeates through this most unusual city 24/7. The smell emanates, of course, from the excessive geothermal activity taking place just below ground level – the whole city of Rotorua is built over a caldera formed during a volcanic eruption around 240,000 years ago, and there is certainly no mistaking the level of activity still present today. It’s impossible to miss, in fact.
But before we head southwards to Rotorua on our last day on the Coromandel Peninsula, we take a drive along a stretch of its amazing eastern coastline, discovering giant deserted beaches (Otama), picturesque little towns (Tairua) and sumptuous scenery, ending up eventually at Hot Water Beach, where the thing to do is to dig a hole in the sand until you reach the water heated by geothermal activity and then sit in your own hand dug hot tub. Unfortunately the timing of the tide isn’t quite right (the lower the tide the better) and despite our best efforts with the spade we only hit a seam of cold sea water.
En route to Rotorua we pause at the self-styled “Mural Town” of Katikati, not because of the murals but more because that naughty Hyundai of ours decides that the Dolce Cafe on the High Street looks too good to pass by, but as it happens the murals are indeed an interesting distraction from the highway. As is the cafe.
And so to Rotorua, nicknamed both “Sulphur City” and “Rottenrua” due to that smell, where the geothermal activity is in no way restricted to the enclosed pay-to-visit centres, in fact there is evidence all around town. Follow the footpath trail near Sulphur Point and gurgling fumaroles pump steam from boiling pools just the other side of a small wooden fence. No matter which direction we look, clouds of steam are drifting into the air or being carried across town by the wind. Urban volcanoes. Less than three kilometres beneath this city lies a giant lake of molten lava, little wonder then that extreme heat escapes from so many fissures in the Earth’s surface.
The action is even more intense inside the wonderfully named Hell’s Gate geothermal reserve where the bubbling soundtrack is louder, the sulphur scent stronger and the scars on the surface more extreme. There’s definitely weird stuff happening just below ground level here; some of the water in these raging pools reaches a temperature of 120C even above the surface, having hit 350C or more underground. We indulge – of course we do – in the hot water pools and the mud baths, but the real lasting impression is of the lengthy walk around the natural cauldron and its unusual sights and sounds. Incidentally, many of the mud pots and boiling pools here were named by none other than George Bernard Shaw, who was evidently just as impressed as we are. How “not bloody likely” is that.
Mud bath and mineral pools
Sulphur crystals and hot pools
A mere 400 yards or so from our apartment here is another geothermal centre, commercially known as Te Puia but with a full name of Te Whakarewarewa, where the valley is filled with billowing steam, spouting geysers and untouchably hot rocks. The more we explore Rotorua the more we come to appreciate just what an unusual town this is. Within Te Puia, the main geyser Pōhutu duly obliges and provides an exciting display powering boiling water around 30 metres skywards as we watch on from a safe distance.
OK, now amuse yourself with a pronunciation test. The real full Maori name of this geothermal valley is, wait for it….
Te WhakarewarewatangaoteopetauāaWāhiao.
Good luck with that one.
Te Puia also serves as a fascinating Maori cultural centre where students learn traditional skills and arts and crafts, including wood carving, bone-and-stone carving and weaving, all funded entirely by the reserve’s visitor fees. There’s also an opportunity to enjoy a “hāngī” lunch. A hāngī is a traditional Maori oven, which basically entails burying the prepared food just beneath the ground, where the intense heat and swirling steam cooks meals thoroughly in a couple of hours. Originally constructed from woven foliage, the centre now uses metal containers for burying the food, which probably detracts somewhat from the original earthy flavours but it is nevertheless still seriously delicious.
Maori culture
Friday, and a third geothermal reserve twenty minutes out of town, one which just goes to show that even on a third day of exploration these places can still surprise and astound. This time it’s Wai-O-Tapu, where the most renowned phenomenon is the Champagne Pool, a large hot water lake given a whole range of startling colours by different mineral deposits ranging from brilliant orange to bright pink and dreamy turquoise. Shifting sunlight, changing winds and the level of cloud cover all help to ensure the colour patterns on the lake are ever changing – even the staff on site don’t know what to expect each day. It really is a remarkable sight, the minerals creating this amazing kaleidoscope include gold, silver, mercury, sulphur, arsenic, thallium and antimony.
Steam emanating from the lake drifts across the valley in the densest of clouds, sometimes forming a white-out which leaves us unable to see anything at all and needing to stand still until it passes, breathing in the heavy sulphur odours and feeling the intense moist heat of this eerie, swirling mist.
Lady Knox lives here. That’s the name given to a spectacular geyser which, even though it (she?) erupts from its own energy several times each day, is given a forced eruption daily at 10:15 by using naturally occurring minerals to produce a crowd pleaser of a display. We weren’t too keen on the “forced” bit but there’s no denying it’s a spectacular sight.
Elsewhere in Wai-O-Tapu lakes of crazy colours lie between banks of sulphur crystals and land coral, mud pools boil and bubble and ethereal sounds like growling monsters issue from the bottom of deep craters. Trees and shrubs in some areas glow with an improbable golden hue, shining as if illuminated from within or lit by offset lighting – we think at first it must be airborne sulphur deposits but learn subsequently that it is in fact an algae which thrives in very high temperatures. Yet another weird feature in this thoroughly unworldly place.
There’s been something odd about staying in Rotorua, on many levels just an ordinary town with shopping malls and an “Eat Street” full of bars, yet on another level sporting the highest concentration of geothermal activity we have seen anywhere. Seeing the two side by side verges on the surreal.
Urban volcanoes. Boiling mud. Rainbow lakes. Sulphur crystals. McDonalds, Burger King and Wendy’s. And everywhere stinks of sulphur. What an unusual town.
33 Comments
Forestwood
Yeah, unusual. I actually prefer Icelandic geysers and geothermal pools – (they don’t have the smell), so I’ve avoided Rottenrua. So it was really great to read your impression of the town as it is highly unlikely I’ll go there.
Phil & Michaela
All part of the fun of New Zealand! Interesting and intriguing town surrounded by beautiful scenery.
Klausbernd
Yes, I agree. And besides that, I don’t see why I should travel that far.
Kb
Lynette d'Arty-Cross
All that underground activity and how it has been utilised through the centuries seems very similar to Iceland but that’s where the comparison ends. 😊 Mud baths are good for the skin and you two look like you’re really enjoying them. Cheers.
Phil & Michaela
Yep, the Maoris were putting the natural phenomena to good use long before anybody realised there was tourism potential!
Alison
It was worth a stop to see those fantastic murals. How did you manage to stay for so long in such a stinky town.
How long did it take to get rid of the smell on your skin, although people do pay a fortune for that. Beautiful scenery you’re capturing.
I think we will have to go next year!
Phil & Michaela
Well, Ali, the answer is…it’s still there! Five days later and we still can’t get rid of the smell of sulphur, every time we break out in sweat the odour starts off again! Beginning to think I’ll smell like this for ever 😂. So far NZ is very rewarding, and we’re told it’ll get better and better as we move south.
Alison
It’s such a great country for a road trip
Phil & Michaela
It so is Ali 😂❤️
Eha Carr
I dunno how you manage to do it! And I am not trying to flatter you . . . I arrived across the Ditch at age 13, have lived here all my life, have been a fair few times to the Shakey Isles to family in Christchurch and business in Auckland and Wellington – BUT I have never seen quite as attractive a lot of photos as you have managed to put together again 🙂 ! Your nature photos of the area are amongst the best I have ever seen and you must have had huge fun featuring muddy garb! The native language – naturally I don’t understand it but, Estonian with its wealth of vowels and then more vowels, leads you to know how to pronounce – no problem. Not much problem with sulphury smells either . . . but I do have an innate fear of nature – its shudders and quakes . . . so there is a ‘scaredy-cat’ component to stays . . .
Phil & Michaela
Well so far Eha it’s been a terrifically interesting journey through beautiful scenery, and Rotorua is certainly an unusual place. Looking forward to exploring more!
Toonsarah
Rotorua looks even more amazing than I would have imagined! I love the colours, and those glowing tree trunks are something else! I also like the look of Katikati – your car has good taste 😀 Have you pre-booked your accommodation in these clearly popular places or are you taking pot-luck?
Phil & Michaela
Doing our usual, booking a couple of beds ahead as we move on, just to keep things a bit flexible (with a couple of exceptions later on where we have a date commitment and a stay in a small town). So far all four places have had ample accommodation with vacancies so there doesn’t appear to be a problem. For the most part we’re staying in “apartment motels”, which are comfortable and useful, so they’re working out well.
The Flask Half Full
I was super excited to see this post – we are heading to New Zealand in 2028, so I’m starting to gather information and plan. Rotorua seems to be on everyone’s “don’t miss” lists for the north island.
I see the Maori use the same spelling system as the Welsh. 😂
Cheers!
Phil & Michaela
It’s our third post from NZ, not sure if you saw the other two, but can highly recommend the Coromandel Peninsula, we really loved the little town of Whitianga. We’re travelling the whole shebang from north to south so plenty more to come hopefully!
The Flask Half Full
I haven’t seen the other two. I’ll look into it. My email is an absolute black hole, so I miss a lot of stuff. What an exciting adventure for you guys!!
Phil & Michaela
Oh no! Hopefully not an ongoing glitch, we do seem to get those regularly. Hope you can find them OK.
Christie
Geysers are interesting to watch, they reminded me of the ones we saw in Yellowstone.
But how fun to dig for your own, private hot tub😀
Phil & Michaela
Well nearly 😁… but yes the whole geothermal thing is fascinating to see
Jyothi
Wow.. Great captures, such a unique place to explore!!
Phil & Michaela
It really is…even with the odours!
restlessjo
Gobsmacked! What to say but ‘what a wonderful world’. Sing along! xx
Phil & Michaela
I’ll try my best! It’s a bit weird seeing all that activity in an “ordinary” town…NZ is proving to be extremely interesting so far…
Lookoom
I also stopped off in Rotorua – the geysers, the Maori – and, strangely enough, I felt that the pressure on visitors was greater there than elsewhere in New Zealand; perhaps that’s inevitable given the nature of the place.
Phil & Michaela
Didn’t get any of that, thankfully
Helen Devries
The dig your own hot tub appealed….but what a place!
Phil & Michaela
Quite remarkable!
grandmisadventures
I always love geothermal pools like that- such an incredible work of nature. Also the murals around town are fantastic 🙂
Phil & Michaela
Yep, places like that hold such intriguing mysteries. Just standing wondering what’s going on under your feet is terrific.
Monkey's Tale
I feel like I can smell it from here! I remember the smell of Rottenrua, but nice to be reminded how the geysers, mud pools etc look, because it’s been a while. Looks like you enjoyed your mud baths. Maggie
Phil & Michaela
It was a full 8 days before the smell was finally gone from our skin, we were beginning to think we’d smell like it for ever! Fascinating place to wander around…
WanderingCanadians
Ha, Rottenrua! That’s a good one. We visited many of the same geothermal parks as you did. Such a fascinating area. How was the mud to rinse off afterwards?
Phil & Michaela
Still smelling bad for 8 days, and even now there’s the odd piece of clothing still smelling of sulphur!