ROTORUA ATTRACTIONS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 568, 27 June 1933, Page 8

ROTORUA ATTRACTIONS

WONDERFUL CHARM AND INFINITE VARIETY OF SCENES IDEAL HOLIDAY RESORT

Rotorua and its environs have beer so generously endowed by prodiga: I nature that the limitations of spact , prove a definite handicap to a com- | plete description of its charms, i Rotorua town is se.t on the shores of Lake Rotorua, famous in Maor: tradition, a lovely stretch of pure j water relieved by beautiful Mokoia Island, a background poem in green. The town is a prosperous borougb of 5150 inhabitants. It has all the amenities of a .modern town, including many ^ comf ortable hotels and accommodation houses run on sound lines- and catering for the visitor's every comfort. It is served well by luxurious express trains and service cars. Sporting Attractions. Apart from the scenic and thermal aspects of the area, Rotorua is a veritable sportsmen's Mecca. The many lakes and streams in the district are teeming with the famcus fighting rainbow trout. This, the gamest of all fresh-water fish, reaches great size in Rotorua waters, 10-pounders being commonplace, and fish as heavy as 261b have been taken. Angling for these fresh-water fighters in the sylvan setting of the Rotorua lakes and streams with their backgrounds of sun-kissed hills and almost tropical bush, is a sheer pleasure and a real mental tonic. The golfer who visits Rotorua inj vanably comes baek again, and why I should he not, for in Rotorua he has a course unique in hazards and fascinating in lay-out Where else in ; the world can be found such undulations of velvet fairways, intercepted, perhaps, by here a hot pool, and there a smoking geyser or a muttering mud pool ? This is Arikikapakapa the main ; course, but on the shores of the lake , there is another fine nine-hole course I named Motutam, which also has its j special features. j The tennis player has the choice of 18 grass courts. The bowler is well served with fine public greens; the croquet player likewise, and even the horn of the hunter is now h'eard on the slopes of the Rotorua hills as the hunt follows the hounds pell mell after the elusive ba.re. Swimming has de luxe attractions beyond compare. Imagine a fulllength swimming bath, white-tiled, spiarkling blue waters of a warmth j that attracts hut never chills or overj heats, diving towers, sun balconies, richly furnished and carpeted resting rooms. Picture this and you have not a Hollywoodian conception, but a mental image of the famous Blue I Bath at Rotorua. There are other baths, too, that cater for the enjoyment of young and old, rich and poor, alike. For the suffercr there are the beneficent waters of nature, brimming with minerals, which, with the aid of l medical science, smooth away pains | and restore health and vigour. Thermal Activity. Thermal activity begins on the shore of the lake and even in the waters, which, cold and clear, mingle and pulse with countless small hot springs rising through the bed of the lake. On the shore these springs become small geysers or pools as the mood takes them. The old Maori village of Ohinemutu is established on the edge of the lake amidst a welter of thermal activity, but while tius amazes the visitor, it is but a co.amonplace to the Maori who utilises the visible manifestations of nature's power to the mundane purpose of steaming to a tempting tonderness his evening meal of fish, meat or , vegetables'. Two miles away, at Whakarewarewa is thermal activity in more turbulent mood and there a small valley contains an unparalleled amount of thermal activity. Geysers of great force and intensity vie with huge mud pools where the gurgitating hot m.ud forms and re-forms into fantastic and beautiful designs, hissing blow-holes and petrified terraces of great beauty of colouriug. For a "modest fee visitors are conducted through this area by native women guides, or wahines, smartly dressed in native costume. These charming mentors relate many interesting legends and anecdotes of the geysers and pools. By its association with' thermal ac tivity and curative waters, Rotorua is regarded by some misinformed persons as a place where life is precarious, earthquakes commonplace. Nothing could be further from the actual truth, for in the whole history of the town not even a chimney has been thrown down. Rotorua is the radiating point for outbreaks of thermal activity' in an larea of mariy square miles. Most of theSe interesting sights are taken in arranged scenic trips, of which the^ following hrief . descriptions will give some idea of the fascinating nature of the country. Round Lake Rotorua. This fine car trip of 35 miles skirts

l' the shores of Lake Rotorua for the [ greater part and takes in the famous , Hamurana Spring, Okere Falls and Caves and a portion of Lake Rotoiti. A stop is niade at Hamurana and here , the visitor sees a wonderful spring • of crystal clear water welling up from the earth at the rate of millions of gallons per day. The spring is the home of thousands of rainbow trout, which can be clearly seen idling in the glorious waters. So great is the pressure of water from the spring that a penny dropped in it will not sink. Okere Fa.lls are also very beautiful and the secret Maori Caves form a valuable historical link with the early Maori wars. The scenery from the road, as it winds round the lake on the northern shore, is magnificent, the road being quite 200 feet above the lake level. In the immediate foreground is Mokoia Island, with Rotorua showing in the distance. Owing to the height of the viewpoint, when the water is clear, the bottom of the lake is clearly visible for half a mile round.