I recently visited New Zealand and was astounded to discover so many changes since my last visit in 2016.  My first stop was the town of Rotorua, one of my favorites.

Lakeside

Here’s a photo of the lakeside walk in 2016.

All this changed in 2022 when the city decided to renovate the lakeside and make it more family-friendly.

I admit it is lovely and I saw a lot of children playing on the jungle jim.  Still, I miss the black swans.

Thermal Activity

While the Sulpher Point trail was closed, I did manage to find some steaming water.

We walked from the park to our hotel near Government House.  At last, some rugged ground!  I was happy to escape the family area.

Of course, the above is only a tiny sample of the bubbling areas that surround Rotorua.   In the morning, we visited  Wai-O-Tapu, famous for its hot springs.  This thermal park is a 30-minute drive south of town.  If you like walking along scalding water, this is the place for you.  Here, you’ll find a variety of thermal delights, such as geysers!

It looks relatively harmless, but I wouldn’t walk any closer; that surrounding sinter looks fragile to me!  We followed a boardwalk made expressly for tourists.   At one point, I was lucky to find a silver fern, New Zealand’s symbol.

One last geyser!

On the way back to town, our tour van stopped at the Lady Knox Geyser, also located in the Wai-O-Tapu region.  We arrived at the last minute and just squeezed onto a bench in the back.

It was soon time to dash for the tour van and return to Rotorua.  I’ll continue my thermal research in the next post.  In the meantime, you can see a few more photos by clicking here.