Sights in Rotorua & The Bay Of Plenty
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Hiona St Stephen’s Church
White-weatherboard St Stephen's (1862) is an Anglican church with a perfectly proportioned timber-lined interior. Reverend Carl Volkner, known by the local Whakatohea tribe to have acted as a government spy, was murdered here in 1865. In 1992 the Governor-General granted Mokomoko, the man who hanged for the crime, a full pardon, which hangs in the lobby.
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3D Maze
Three kilometres beyond Rotorua Airport is this 1.7km-long wooden maze that will entertain kids for an hour or so.
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Brain Watkins House
A demure Victorian villa stranded on a hill as the roads around it grew, Brain Watkins House (no, not Brian) was built in 1881 from kauri (wood) and remains one of Tauranga’s best-preserved colonial homes.
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Shalfoon & Francis Museum
Opotiki’s original general store has been born again, with shelves piled high with old grocery and hardware products. Handbags, sticky-tape dispensers, sets of scales, books − you name it, they had it. An amazing collection. Admission is included in your ticket to the Opotiki Heritage & Agriculture Museum.
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Marshalls Animal Park
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Classic Flyers NZ
Out near the airport, Classic Flyers NZ is an interesting aviation museum (biplanes, retired US Airforce jets, helicopters etc) with a buzzy on-site cafe.
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Robbins Park
Robbins Park is a verdant pocket of roses with excellent views across to Mt Maunganui.
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Mount Surf Museum
To learn about surfing in the area (and beyond) visit the amazing Mount Surf Museum, inside the Totara St branch of the Mount Surf Shop.
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Monmouth Redoubt
Shaded by huge pohutukawa trees, spooky Monmouth Redoubt was a fortified site during the Maori Wars. Next door is Robbins Park, a verdant pocket of roses with sweeping views across to Mt Maunganui. At the foot of the Redoubt on the end of the Strand is Te Awa nui Waka, a replica Maori canoe, on display in an open-sided building.
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Te Whakarewarewa
Rotorua’s main drawcard is Te Whakarewarewa (pronounced fa-ka-re-wa-re-wa), a thermal reserve 3km south of the city centre. This area’s full name is Te Whakarewarewatanga o te Ope Taua a Wahiao, meaning ‘The Gathering Together of the War Party of Wahiao’, although many people just call it ‘Whaka’. Either way, the reserve is as famous for its Maori cultural significance as its steam and bubbling mud. There are more than 500 springs here, including a couple of famed geysers. The two main tourist operations are Te Puia and Whakarewarewa Thermal Village.
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Te Papaka & Puketapu
On the clifftops behind the town are two ancient Ngati Awa pa sites – Te Papaka and Puketapu – both of which offer sensational (and very defendable) outlooks over Whakatane.
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Te Manuka Tutahi Marae
The centrepiece of this brand-new Ngati Awa marae isn't new: Mataatua Wharenui (The House That Came Home) is a fantastically carved 1875 meeting house. In 1879 it was dismantled and shipped to Sydney, before spending 71 years in the Otago Museum from 1925. It was returned to the Ngati Awa in 1996. Still a work in progress when we visited, a cultural experience for visitors is planned: until its completion you can enter the marae and check out Mataatua Wharenui from the outside (behave respectfully).
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Ohinemutu
Ohinemutu is a charmingly ramshackle lakeside Maori village (access via Kiharoa, Haukotuku or Korokai Sts off Lake St, north of Rotorua Hospital) that traces the fusing of European and Maori cultures. A highlight is the 1905 Tama-te-kapua Meeting House (corner of Kiharoa St and Mataiawhea St), named for the captain of Te Arawa canoe. This sacred meeting house for Te Arawa people isn't open to visitors, but you can check out the exterior.
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Mission Cemetery
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Mauao
Mauao (Mt Maunganui) itself can be explored via walking trails, winding around it and leading up to the summit. The summit walk takes about 40 minutes and gets steep near the top. You can also climb around the rocks on Moturiki Island, which adjoins the peninsula. The island and the base of Mauao also make up the Mauao base track (3½km, 45 minutes), wandering through magical groves of pohutukawa trees that bloom between November and January. Pick up a map at the i-SITE.
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Lake Rotorua
Lake Rotorua is the largest of the district’s 16 lakes and is − underneath all that water − a spent volcano. Sitting in the lake is Mokoia Island, which has for centuries been occupied by various subtribes of the area. The lake can be explored by boat, with several operators situated at the lakefront.
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Haiku Pathway
From the information centre you can also explore the Haiku Pathway, rambling along the Uretara River past boulders inscribed with haiku verses.
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Government Gardens
The manicured English-style Government Gardens surrounding the Rotorua Museum are pretty as a picture, with roses aplenty, steaming thermal pools dotted about and civilised amenities such as croquet lawns and bowling greens. Also here is the upmarket Polynesian Spa and Government Gardens Golf.
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Mud Pool
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Lake Rotorua Foreshore
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Muriwai’s Cave
The partially collapsed Te Ana o Muriwa (Muriwai’s Cave) once extended 122m into the hillside and sheltered 60 people, including Muriwai, a famous seer and aunt of Wairaka. Along with Wairere Falls and a rock in the harbour-mouth, the cave was one of three landmarks Toroa was told to look for by his father Irakewa, when he arrived in the Mataatua waka.
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Ocean Beach
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Mount Beach
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Minden Lookout
From Minden Lookout, about 10km west of Tauranga towards Katikati, there’s a superb view back over the Bay of Plenty. To get there, take SH2 to Te Puna and turn off south on Minden Rd; the lookout is about 4km up the road.
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Wairere Falls
Tumbling down the cliffs behind the town, picture-perfect Te Wairere (Wairere Falls) occupies a deliciously damp nook, and once powered flax and flour mills and supplied Whakatane’s drinking water. It's a gorgeous spot, and goes almost completely unheralded: in any other county there's be a ticket booth, interpretive audiovisual displays and a hotdog van!
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