Sunday, September 24, 2006

Other-Worldly Rotorua

Blogger is still not allowing me to download images.... Annoying!!

Rotorua is probably most known for it’s steaming hillsides and boiling mud pools. Today I took a walk in the park that is directly below my balcony. Its name is Kuirau Park, which is the name of the largest boiling lake there. The Maori legend goes that the lake was originally called Tawakahu and was cool enough to swim in. A beautiful Maori woman by the name of Kuirau used to swim in it all the time. In the lake lived a Taniwha (a scary lake monster, I think?). The Taniwha usually let Kuirau swim in peace while admiring her beauty, but one day he could no longer contain himself and took her. At this point there are two told endings - first being that she died from being so terrified, and the second that the Taniwha took her to his lair to stay with him. Either way, the Gods got so mad they made the lake boil in order to get rid of the Taniwha.

There are multiple pools of boiling sulfuric water and several mud pools all over the park. The lake is by far the largest and most beautiful. Elsewhere in the park I was walking along and would here random bubbling and gurgling right next to me from a pile of rocks, and then realized that was mud boiling. The mud pools smelled quite strong, but the lake and other water pools were not stinky. It was a bit eerie walking along the footpaths and bridges that would go directly, and within inches, over some of the pools. Especially after Bronwyn had told me that while she has worked at the hospital, two inpatient patients have managed to commit suicide by running down and jumping into these pools!

There are lots of natural beauty products that contain the Rotorua mud in them… and of course there are spas all over the place! Apparently there are also some more hidden pools that the tourists don’t get told about that the locals visit, and they are free. I won’t go alone anytime soon - I think you have to know which ones are safe to get into! In the Kuirau park, there were also a couple of lovely stops surrounded by gardens where one could sit on a low bench and soak one’s tired feet in the warm water rich with minerals. I didn’t stop to do that today, but will definitely plan to do so while I am staying so close to the park.

Perhaps tomorrow I will write to you about the Whakatau Ceremony and my general first impressions from work… Wish me luck! I am glad I’ll have Bronwyn there - that helps settle the butterflies a bit!

3 comments:

Sarah Jane said...

Have I told you that I'm jeolous yet? Yup, I am. You make me want to escape the big city life in europe and move south me dear.

damn that blogger for not letting you post your photos. Ah well, the mental images are not so bad either! :-)

Thanks for all your kind words of late. I've really been an emotional basketcase, and it's just so silly when I think about it. But knowing that you and bruce managed to find each other makes me feel some hope.

Anonymous said...

I am enjoying the tales from your new home...you have a talent for descriptive writing....ever tap into that as a hobby?? Wishing you well on your first day of work tomorrow...butterflies are beautiful creatures, they spread their wings and fly :)
BTW...ever use www.photobucket.com to upload photos? When blogger is a pain I always upload to my account with photobucket (it's free of course) and then copy the html code for the photo and paste it into my post...if I can do it...anybody can...even a New Zealander lost in the land of boiling waters can :)What do they call people who live in New Zealand by the way???? Besides, lucky?

Stephen Newton said...

Tia, Good luck tomorrow! I'm looking forward to hearing all about the Welcome ceremony. I need a visit to Zippy's real bad.