May 24, 2013
Our season in New Zealand was coming to an end, but we did manage to take a day trip to Rotorua. One advantage of being based in Tauranga is having Rotorua, one of the top tourist destinations in New Zealand, only 45 minutes away by car. There’s too much to see and do in Rotorua to cover it all in a day (or for that matter 2 or 3 days), but being nearby we could divide it into a few day-long excursions. Most of those would have to take place next season, but it was nice to squeeze in one visit before we left.
Being the official Legacy tour planner, it was up to me to arrange our day. I had some criteria for picking the 3 or 4 activities out of the 12 things I hoped we’d eventually do. They needed to be entertaining enough that Rich wouldn’t mind returning next year. They needed to be a good introduction to Rotorua itself and give a feeling for the area. We needed to avoid sticker shock by mixing in free things with expensive things (and again ensure Rich would want to return). And I wanted to do at least one or two things that would be new to me as I’d been there before.
So I made my choices: The (moderately priced) Skyline Complex including a wine tasting at Volcanic Hills Winery, Ohinemutu Maori Village and Kuirau Park for lots of (free) steamy volcanic activity, Waimangu Volcanic Valley, one of the big (and expensive) geothermal parks in the area, and if we had enough time, a walk through a redwood forest (pronounceable and free).
We began our Rotorua day with a ride in a Skyline gondola to visit the complex at the top of Mount Ngongotaha (this is not a typo–that’s really how it’s spelled). I love the views riding up mountain lifts like this, and what makes it even better is that there’s actually a winery in the complex at the top. (There’s also a Skyswing and a luge ride down the hill, but I opted for the winery.)
Once we got to the top, we were a bit hungry and noticed that the Skyline restaurant had incredible views and a big lunch buffet. After taking a look, it was an easy decision to spurge a bit and have meal there. We sat at a window-side table and proceeded to pig out on a surprisingly delicious array of international foods. This buffet would have been worth doing even without the view.
After lunch we walked around the complex, checking out fun touristy stuff in the gift shops and discovering that the staff really don’t like it if you photograph the tee shirts with funny sayings. We then headed to Volcanic Hills winery for a tasting. Their beautiful tasting room had huge glass windows overlooking Rotorua, the gondolas, and the lake.
I should mention that they don’t grow the wine grapes here: they’re grown in the south island, famous for its wines. The guy doing the pouring was a funny character who had a bit of a prejudice about Northland wines (the wine and grapes from the north section of the north island), saying it’s like being in the US and buying wine from Texas. We can’t say we agree; we’ve had some amazing wines in Northland. But I will admit Volcanic Hills sauvignon blancs lived up their racy and green reputation: they were fabulous. The chardonnay was also excellent, and they had an incredible port. So OK, maybe Mr. Wine Pourer does have the right to be a bit full of himself about south island wine grapes, but that said I believe they have some serious competition from the chardonnays we enjoyed in Northland.
Above is a gallery of our gondola ride, the restaurant in the Skyline complex, and finally Volcanic Hills winery (no, the kids aren’t tasting wine; they were there with their parents) and the view out one of the winery’s big windows. (As always, click to enlarge and scroll) –Cyndi
