Te Puia Geothermal Reserve – Exploring geothermal Rotorua

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Rotorua – in my experience, is nature’s enchanting & charming gift to the stunning country of New Zealand. It’s the Powerpuff Girl of North Island with the magical ingredient of Chemical X aka Te Puia geysers & Te Puia mudpools in abundance. In this blog post, I’ll share with you my Te Puia guided tour experience at the Te Puia geothermal reserve.

GEOTHERMAL ROTORUA

There is a certain sense of exclusivity that the place makes you feel like a visitor. It is so tranquil that you can hear yourself breathing sometimes. I remember walking on the roads during the evenings all by myself, almost feeling like I owned the place.

I’d booked a stay with my family at the amazing Holiday Inn in Rotorua. It’s a hotel with a fabulous location surrounded by hot springs & bubbling geysers.

—> Check out the fabulous Holiday Inn stay at Rotorua by clicking here.

Everywhere you go, you’re greeted with a smile & a “Kia Ora” – NZ  way of wishing good health. 

We noticed that Rotorua as a place had an unusual characteristic smell. This smell is caused by sulphur dioxide coming from the geysers & geothermal activity in the region.

All the hot water in the hotels & homes is outsourced from the geothermal valley. This water from the sulphur springs is known to have a lot of health benefits like healing – skin irritations and infections such as rashes and eczema, arthritic pain, menopausal symptoms & digestive disorders.

The geothermal landscape is a cardinal reason that makes Rotorua a unique destination.

It was our first morning in geothermal Rotorua & after having an appetizing breakfast (I’m always sold on hotels that provide a great meal to start the day), we were to explore one of the best things to do in Rotorua – the Te Puia Geothermal Reserve.

TE PUIA GEOTHERMAL RESERVE – TE PUIA GUIDED TOUR

We headed to the Te Puia Geothermal Reserve to view the boiling mud pools & cascading geysers. Two entities that make Rotorua – New Zealand’s “thermal city”.

Te Puia located in the Te Whakarewarewa geothermal valley spans 70 hectares. If you can say that right the first time, then give yourself a high five! It’s home to hot springs, mud pools, silica formations and geysers.

We enter the reserve and this lovely Maori lady from the Te Arawa tribe called  Carol welcomes us with a Kia Ora & a new phrase Haere Mai (meaning welcome).

She tells us that we’ll be unravelling the place’s taonga (meaning treasures). Treasures that have been home to the Polynesian settlers from Hawaiki for years.

I was loving the addition of so many ethnic phrases to my trictionary (Travel dictionary, I made this up).

Carol tells us that the word Rotorua comes from the Maori name for the city and lake –Te Rotorua-nui-a-Kahumatamomoe.

 I had to record it on phone and verify the spelling on google, no kidding. In this name, Roto means ‘lake’ and rua means ‘two’ or ‘second’, so Rotorua stands for “Second Lake”.

I notice that Carol has quite an artsy tattoo on her back & when she catches me looking at it, she says – “I have it on my back coz my relatives and god have my back lovely“.

She addresses all of us as lovelies & tells me that the tattoo is made organically from the bark of the kanuka plant. She gives a demo of it by plucking a kanuka plant nearby and rubbing it’s bark on my hand.

I was loving the individual attention from my very own Maori tattoo artist. Manuka – a plant having antibiotic properties, was also present in the reserve.

“The reason why Rotorua is geothermal”, she says, “is because it’s sitting between two highly volcanic zones”.

TE PUIA GEYSERS

Walking on a wooden bridge, on our left side, I see a Te Puia geyser with steam emanating from it. Such is the consistency in the pattern of steam that you can almost mistake it for a designer fountain.

Sunrise over the surface of the pool gives an impression that the sun is warming itself over a customized fireplace.

I was wondering what it would feel like to swim alone in these hot spring pools in winter & before I could ask Carol if it was open to swimming for the public, she could feel it from my eyes and said: “No lovely! not you guys, only we Maoris can swim in it”.

I could sense a mental connection with her, I swear. She read the thoughts in my head which was scary but fascinating.

TE PUIA POHUTU GEYSER

Following our mental connection episode, we get to see the star attraction in the Te Puia geothermal reserve – the Pohutu Geyser. “Pohutu”, she explains – means constant splashing in Maori.

It’s the largest active geyser in the southern hemisphere & erupts once or twice every hour sometimes reaching a height of 100 feet (30 metres)”.

We were extremely lucky in terms of our timing of visiting the place. Why? Because the Te Puia Pohutu geyser erupted right in front of our eyes.

The striking feature being – it wasn’t just one eruption & game over but a sustained 2-minute long eruption.

To have witnessed such a natural marvel live was a surreal experience that still gives me goosebumps when I visualise & write about it.

The Te Puia Pohutu geyser has some history behind it. About 16 years ago, Pohutu erupted for 250 days.

It faced the risk of losing it’s power when residents used bores to tap into the valley’s geothermal resources. However, a systematic program to stop that is in place, keeping Pohutu’s charm intact.

There is another Te Puia geyser with the name Papakura, present here. It was once, quite an audience puller but has now become dormant.

TE PUIA MUD POOLS

Next attraction we get to terms with in the Te Puia geothermal reserve is the mud pool – Purapurawhetu (meaning “stardust”).

It takes it’s name from small clusters of boiling mud in the pool & resembles a pattern of stars such as The Milky Way Galaxy.

As a kid, I remember throwing stones in water, to see the stone creating ripples. Seeing small mud clusters like orbits of the solar system transported me to the same childhood memory.

If seeing that Te Puia mud pool was an exercise in nostalgia, then what I see next was literally mud jumping like “children on springs”. This enthralling mud pool goes with the title Nga Mokai-a- Koko.

In this pool I see the mud leaping and then falling clumsily on it’s own. Carol tells us that this pool takes it’s name from the chief of the village in the geothermal valley called Koko.

Koko noticed that the mud pool reminded him of playful children & hence the name Nga Mokai-a-Koko meaning “the cherished ones of Koko” came into existence. Frog Pool is another name for it as the plopping mud resembles leaping frogs.

I, for some strange reason was feeling hungry looking at this mud pool. Because firstly, the mud plopping made a similar sound as popcorn popping.

Secondly, the mud made little clumsy fountains when leaping, reminding me of chocolate fountains in malls.

This active mud pool is the largest and the most intriguing part of the reserve. “It’s activity depends upon the rains received in the region & the steaming bursts of mud touch almost a 100 ºC when active lovelies“, explains Carol.

Finishing the tour of the Te Puia hot springs, geysers & mud pools we make our way to the Te Puia Kiwi House.

TE PUIA KIWI HOUSE

Kiwi as we all know is the national bird of New Zealand. There are five species of kiwi and Te Puia is home to the brown kiwi. Once 12 million in number, today they are less than a 1,00,000 and on the list of endangered species.

The kiwi’s egg is huge & the female lays only one egg at a time. In the Te Puia Kiwi house we not only read all these facts about the bird & it’s significance in the Maori culture but also about it’s emergence as the national icon of New Zealand- so much so that the people of the country today are called kiwis.

The Kiwi house has models of different kiwi species. This way the visitors can observe their physical features and get to know them from close quarters.

There is also a kiwi bird enclosure inside with dim lighting. After having waited patiently for a while, we got to see the brown kiwi ramp-walking like a showstopper to a fashion week in search for food.

They usually step out in the dark because they fear hunters hunting them in daylight. Hence, the enclosure with them was dimly lit & to my utter delight, I saw not one but two of them as they came out, quickly grabbed what they found to munch on & went inside.

Carol tells us that we were fortunate to have seen two of them. Apparently, they hadn’t come out in the previous 2 days.

She also tells us the story of Kenny – a 16-year-old kiwi euthanised for dislocated hips. Kenny was everybody’s favourite & I could sense the sadness in Carol’s tone when she mentioned Kenny was no more a part of Te Puia.

It showed how the people were emotionally attached & compassionate towards other living beings around them – a trait lacking in human society nowadays.

 

MAORI ARCHITECTURE

After getting familiar with the extraordinary kiwi bird, we see some Maori architecture on display. First, we see the Heketanga-a-Rangi. 

Standing at the entrance of Te Puia geothermal reserve, it’s an exciting piece of contemporary artwork. It translates as “Heavenly Origins” & is a fine blend of carving, sculpture and decoration.

Then, we come across Te Puia Pa– the site of an ancient fortified village leading us to Rotowhio Marae. The Marae is a traditional gathering place.

Rotowhio marae contains beautifully & intricately carved buildings, one of which is the Te Aronui-a-rua, which is the carved Maori meeting house.

This is the place where ceremonies, cultural programs and concerts take place. It features some stunning carvings, decorated panels and weaving,

Pataka or the “Store house” is another gorgeous artistic feather in the cap of Maori architecture.

RECEIVING SOME “WHANAU” LOVE

Finishing the guided tour of Te Puia geothermal reserve, Carol tells us that the Maoris have a particular way of showing if they like someone & accept them as part of their Whanau (meaning family).

It involves a firm handshake, followed by a pressing of the noses and a smile, shaking hands again.

As it turns out, I am the first one to receive Whanau love from Carol (thug life feeling). That is also the memory I take back from my experience.

A memory of belonging to a compassionate Maori family. And just like that, geothermal Rotorua became my home!

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