We left Te Puke sad to say goodbye but happy to continue traveling. We stopped in Okere falls on the way - they have a nice beer shop and roast their own coffee (it’s really good!) - and we did the short walk.
We stayed in Lake Okareka campsite for most of the days. It’s a nice campsite next to the lake and not too far from anything around Rotorua. We didn’t plan to stay for this many nights but we didn’t plan someone was finally fixing our van!
Rotorua’s volcanic landscape is beautiful and impressive, but virtually everything is paid and expensive… We started with Te Puia, the Maori arts and crafts school for wood carving, jewellery and fabric + geothermal walk and geyser + kiwi conservation centre where we saw kiwis walking as mammals, they are cute. At the end of the day we couldn’t start our van…We called our insurance and it turned out the battery was flat. Vince - our lifesaver - listened to the noise (the one that was driving us crazy and no one managed to fix) and told us they will fix it … turns out they did! Two days later.
The next day the battery was flat again, but we were lucky we met Flora and she helped us out and jumpstarted the van - we could spend some time together in the evening and listen to her New Zealand adventures and hunting stories. With the van running we went straight to the shop and bought a jumpstarter with battery.
The next day the battery was flat again but we had our brand new toy so we could go to the workshop! We went for a walk in Rotorua’s city centre. The garage couldn’t fix everything in the day but they offered for us to sleep in the workshop :D He even let me use the workshop and some leftover materials to build my own custom tray for the van while they finished the next day.
We stayed a few more days in Rotorua to do some of the things we actually planned to do. First we went one day to hell’s gate to do the mud baths and walk - it was fun and smelly! The next day we did mountain bike in the redwoods forest - and it was harder than we thought so to compensate we went to the forest bathtubs, benefits of being in the geothermal tourist town.
We met Remi for dinner at the campsite, he’s going back to kiwitown 🥝
The last day was only hot baths in different places: kerosene creek is a hot river with a waterfall, pretty cool even though it stinks - hot and cold is a place where the hot river meets the cold one and it feels quite odd to feel where the water mixes! We finished the day in the Waikite Valley Thermal Pools which is also a very nice campsite so two for one! They have different pools from hot to hottest, really nice and relaxing.
It’s been a packed week… We’ll be moving south next, planning to walk the Tongariro crossing towards Mordor.
Hop
Do not swing
Arrived in Rotorua
God of the ugly
Gollum
Rocko
Rockette
The kiwi jam
In Te Puia
The mudpool
Geothermal
Geothermal walk
The guardian of the forest
White mud
They used to cook here
It was blue but there is a filter
The kiwi replica but we saw real ones
End of the day
The red tree someone forgot the yellow
We didnt
Caldera walkway
Checking whats next
Vince saved our van and the workshop was so cool
I could make my own tray in the workshop
Found some horses
The hells gate
Boiling water
Volcanic
More boiling water
Its full of boiling water
Frodo was here
Sulfur colours
One hot water waterfall
Cycling path
We rented bicycles
We could see the stars
The kerosene creek
Wild hot water
Hot stream crossing the road
Hot and cold
Double shadow
Small worlds
Steamy
They collect water at 99 degrees for the hot pools
Straight from hell
Bend
The artist
20260518_Lake Okareka
20260518_MTB Redhill Forest Loop
20260518_Okere Falls
20260518_Rotorua Central Walk
20260518_Te Puia Geothermal Walk