A Rotorua Roadtrip
My apologies dear readers for not blogging for a while but I’ve been extraordinarily busy. I've started teaching at Natcoll Design College in Auckland on the Graduate Diploma in Digital Media course, plus we’ve built our very own TV studio and have launched a new videographics company called Mohawk Media. With all the creative projects we have in the pipeline I’ll not have much time for typing, but will try and post an update from TMet Towers every Friday before my radio show. Also watch out soon for some Video-Logs or VLogs from me and the TMet Crew.

I’ve also taken some time off to rest my wrist and catch up with an old friend, that Chelfyn and I know from when we lived in the UK. Simon Barber used to invent things for the Hewlett Packard Labs in Bristol. He's now the Chief Scientist in a wireless networking company that he started up four years ago in Silicon Valley. He hangs out with the fabulous geeks and freaks of San Francisco, goes to Burning Man every year and is studying for his pilots license. He was in Australia for a conference for a few days, and stopped off in NZ to catch up with us for the first time in 5 years.

The weather had been balmy for the preview few weeks, but a few days before he was due Land of the Long White Cloud became Land of the Long Wet Downpour. It rained so hard in the Bay of Plenty that they declared a state of emergency with headlines like “My house floated down the street”. To add to the crap weather Chelfyn caught the nasty cold that had been flooring everyone for the past few weeks. Luckily Simon found the Mistress and the girls to nurse us before Chemistry.



So where do you take a friend who is only in New Zealand for a couple of days? When it’s too wet for a roadtrip in a camper to the Bay of Islands or Coromandel. We chose the tourist hotspot of the north island - Rotorua (known locally as Rotovegas).

Rotorua
Rotorua is the geothermal capital of New Zealand. Some people call it tacky, but there is lots to see and do all year round and it reminds me of Iceland. It’s only a 3 hour road-trip from Auckland where you get to drive through some pretty rural areas, and get a sense of how small it really is here. That’s one of the things I love about New Zealand. It’s raw beauty and lack of over-development.

Simon and I set off from Auckland in driving rain leaving a snotty Chelfyn at home nursing a box of hankies. We stopped off for a tasty meal in Hamilton before carrying on to Rotorua, arriving after dark and in driving rain. We made good use of the electronic tourist info point outside the tourist centre and found the stylish Princes Gate Hotel which was originally built in Waihi in 1897, and moved to Rotorua in the 1920s. It’s an unusually old and historical building for New Zealand and had the hottest bathwater I've encountered in ages.

The following day looked promising, with the clouds clearing enough for Simon to book a flight. I never knew there was so much you could learn about clouds, and precipitation. We tucked into a delicious breakfast beforehand at the excellent Grapevine Cafe. The hunks of bread were so big - we had to ask for side plates. I had the French Toast with bananas & crispy bacon on maple soaked doorstops, and the Eggs Benedict was declared tasty and filling with a decent Hollandaise.

Our enquiry about a local flight school at the tourist office turned up Air Discovery at Whakatane airfield, who do lessons for around $200 an hour (with space for two friends). Simon had wanted to take the coast road on the drive down from Auckland, and I don’t think he really believed me that the roads & bridges had washed away. Until we flew over the disaster zone and saw the devastation. Flat mud squares where houses and gardens once stood. My heart went out to the people of Matua and Tauranga some of whom lost everything.








We flew over White Island, New Zealand’s most active volcano. You can see aerial video footage of it here. We could see the crater lake which blew out a few years ago, taking most of the trees with it. It’s incredible to think of the awesome power bubbling under the skin of New Zealand.



We also flew inland towards Mt Edgcumbe, and over some of the crater lakes, before landing at Whakatane and driving back to RotoVegas.








I dropped Simon off at a Maori Hangi for some Kai (food) cooked underground on hot stones at the Mitai Village, before finding a nearby motel and taking a long hot spa bath.



Wai-O-Tapu
In the morning we went to the Wai-O-Tapu thermal area where we saw boiling mud, and the Lady Knox geyser. Though it had been known to local Maori the geyser was discovered in 1901, by some men from the nearby open prison who were using the hot water to wash their clothes in. Some soap powder made its way in to the vent, and a few minutes later their clothes where shot into the air while they ran inthe opposite direction. The Soap Powder in Geyser trick is a technique still used to make the old lady blow her top at 10.15 am every day.





We walked around the amazing geological terraces, with colours like the palette of and underground spraycan artist. As I was musing on whether dumb tourists ever stick their hands in to see how hot the water it, I actually saw someone do this. Then walk away blowing on his hand and looking surprised that the steaming water burned him!



With an onward flight to LA booked that evening and Simon’s record of missing flights, we hit the road back to Auckland soon afterwards. It was a whistle-stop tour of New Zealand but Simon saw Maori warriors, geological quirks and active volcanos, smelled the sulpurous air of Rot & Ruin (as the locals also call it) and ate food cooked in a hole in the ground. Nothing gives you perspective than seeing your new life through the eyes of an old friend. They say a chance is a good as a rest and it was great to have a few days away from the studios. I also got to remember how much I love living in New Zealand.

I tried to explain to Simon how being in this country makes me feel, and why I have no desire to go back to America until they have a major regime change. There is enough in the crazy little country to keep me exploring it for years, and when I went back to the UK in 2003, I was homesick for New Zealand after a few weeks.

I love this land of fire, and ice and lakes, of Futurama cityscapes, Bungy, Zorb and perfect surf, volcanos, fjiords and Middle Earth.I especially love living in Waitekere Eco-City. I love the lush bush backdrops of the Waitakeres and dramatic Weat Coast beaches. All within a stones thrown of a vibrant, dynamic Polynesian city. Add to the fact that the worst winter’s day in Auckland would be considered a good summer's day in the UK, and you can see why I’m happy to a Westie.

Oh and if you want to know where to stay in RotoVegas according to the Maori fullas at Mitai the best places are the Kiwipacker, Green Voyager and the Hot Rocks which apparently usually has the hottest chicks in their hotpools.

I will report back next time I take a roadtrip to Rotorua...

Visit Rotorua online at Rotorua NZ TV.