We landed at Auckland Airport early, rented a car — and learned how to drive on the ‘wrong’ (har-har-har) side of the road. A quick look around and lunch later, we headed south for Rotorua (after that we had a great time at the Redwoods and Huka Falls and Craters of the Moon and Waitomo Glowworms Caves, then Taupo and Pirongia, as well as Hamilton Gardens. Later in Australia’s Gold Coast, we visited familyand birds of Australia Part 1 of 2 plus Part 2 of 2, and then we marveled at the Spectacular Views in and Around Gold Coast, enjoyed a delicious meal on the beach, saw some wild things and cute things at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, had fun with Rita Rigby, met the beasts of Brisbane and the beauty there, and enjoyed Sydney this much and that much, as well as the purring there!
Rotorua is lovely, including its historic district.Breath in! That rousing scent, which is e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e (even where no water is visible), is that of healing minerals permeating the air! In unscientific terms, New Zealand is the result of volcanic activity. Hence, the region teams with gurgling springs from where steam plumes and billows. Some are pleasingly warm to soak one’s body in, others are hot enough to cook in.
During the late 1800s, officials saw tourism money in those spas. They erected buildings, planted gardens, smoothed out sports greens, and more — all with the intent of creating a resort destination.
Here’s the historic district built in the late 1800s/early 1900s, which still attracts busloads of visitors…
Part of the historic area pays respect to the indigenous Māori (who, by the way, fought valiantly in World War II)…
Elsewhere in Rotorua is a marae, a Māori meeting grounds complex set within a residential neighborhood. If you ever find yourself at one, remember that visitors must be formally invited inside.
A Māori meeting house in Rotorua.Rotorua’s current mayor is Steve Chadwick, a long-time politician born Stephanie Anne Frizzell, was into her 60s when she was elected into office.
Who are the indigenous people where you live?
Happiness Between Tails by da-AL 
Thanks for sharing! Great photos!
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Great photos and enjoyed the read as this brought back memories of when I visited Rotorua back in 1985 but still distinctly remember that ‘scent’.
Aborigines are our indigenous people, which hold a profound knowledge of surviving in the outback but also a rich culture of art and music.
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Oh wow, it’s as beautiful there as it is intriguing! I must admit total ignorance here though as I don’t think I’d even heard of Rotorua before! x
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Looks wonderful – I’m envious. By the way we share the wrong side of the road here too. Left is right!
JP
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we over here forgive you lol
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Thank you for sharing lovely photos and your adventure, allowing us to see the world through your eyes!… 🙂
“Life gives us brief moments with another, but sometimes in those brief moments we get memories that last a lifetime, So live that your memories will be part of your happiness.”
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Beautiful photos that tempt me to travel there here and now!
New Zealand on the whole must be amazing. I have seen the Lord of the Rings movies … 😉
Our indigenous people are the rural Jutlanders with their language that consists of mono-syllable grunts … 😉 (I am exaggerating) (but not much … 😉 )
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is there much interaction between city & rural folks there?
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I think yes, in Jutland there is not much prejudice either way, the interaction is frequent and normal, the farms are the wealth in Jutland. The prejudice is more towards people from Seeland, the main island. All people from that island are “Copenhageners” to a Jutlander, and Copenhageners are arrogant and think they are better than other people (some of them are and do), while for the people from Copenhagen (or maybe the whole of Seeland) everybody in Jutland is a farmer bum walking around in clogs all the time (some of them do, many of the farmers do, because it is so easy to get in and out of them 😉 ). But it is more banter, not real animosity.
And everybody is picking on the people from Aarhus (a town in Jutland, and the second largest town in Denmark), saying that they are especially stupid, telling funny jokes about their foolish carryings-on. In Germany we do that with the people from Ostfriesland, a region at the North Atlantic.
A typical story would be: How many people from Aarhus (Ostfriesland) would you need to screw a new bulb into a ceiling lamp? Answer: six, one to hold up the bulb, and five to hold him up and walk around in a circle. 😉 😀
In Britain the English make jokes like that about the Scots, and the Scots make them about the Irish.
Is there an area in the US on which people are picking in this manner?
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alas, Birgit, we have plenty of picking on in the states, some of it quite disturbing
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Yes, I have noticed … I meant more pick on in a fun wort of way, but you know that. 😉
There is a lot of picking on going on that divides countries. One thing is race. I was so surprised to learn that in U.K. passports race is mentioned. It is not in the passports of other EU countries. I read a blog discussion about this. And instead of complaining about race being mentioned in a passport, they complained that the authorities didn’t get their race right. There was something with she wasn’t African-Asian, no, she was Asian-African … How more divided do we want to get?
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A magical spell amidst enchanting flowers that could only be you 🙂
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🙂
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Amazing pictures. Thank you for sharing. In Mauritius, there were no natives when the French, then the British consecutively landed on this beautiful island.
The French brought slaves from Africa and other surrounding countries. The British brought labourers from Bihar and Calcutta to work on the sugar plantations.
It’s interesting to note that the island had a native bird . The now extinct Dodo.🌴🏝🏖
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many thanks for the interesting history lesson, Anita – how sad about the dodo who was too trusting…
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Most welcome! Yes, it is indeed very sad about the dodo. It was a big and heavy bird. It did not know how to fly and escape the hunters for prey.
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Thank you for the lovely photos of New Zealand. My brother lives there but I have never been as it is very expensive to go and he only comes here once in awhile, for the same reason. Hope you enjoyed your visit. It sounds like you did.
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We have many native tribes in Ontario. We have the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and also the Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga and Oneida. When we traveled in NZ with our children who were then 2 and 4 our 2 year old daughter had her 2nd birthday in Rotorua. We met some Maori. When we were in Australia we met a team of Maori sheep shearers who were sheering sheep on a 3 million acre sheep station that had 10,000 sheep. They were amazing people.
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great story, Anne – many tx for sharing 🙂
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