The first attraction, of course, is the building. It is quite spectacular. The building was originally named the Bath House and opened in 1908. It was designed along the lines of European spas and represents the New Zealand Government’s first major investment in the tourism industry. In one part of the museum, this heritage is preserved. You can investigate the story of the Rotorua spa in the north-east wing of the building. You can walk into bathrooms as they once were and delve into bizarre treatments that were practiced over time.

The next major attraction is the Rotorua Stories Cinema. A film is screened every 20 minutes, and you will be introduced to the great stories of Rororua in this high impact film. Don’t miss this and enjoy the many sensations. The other area that particularly impressed me was the Tarawera Mountain Gallery. The disastrous eruption of the mountain in 1886 changed the course of history for the people who lived in its shadow. This exhibition dramatically traces the tumultuous events of that night.

There is plenty more including the Treasures of Te Arawa, an exhibition that tells the proud story of the people who settled here some 20 generations ago. Then there is the Bath House Café with coffee, drinks, and food as well as several other galleries which have a changing program of exhibits.

If your timing is right, I strongly recommend the free guided tours of the museum that leave from the foyer daily at 11am and 2pm. This service is included in the price of your admission. Your admission ticket also gives you entry to the historic Blue Baths and helps with their preservation. No cameras are allowed inside the museum.

Tel: (07) 349 4350, Fax: 647-349 2819, Email: rotoruamuseum@rdc.govt.nz

Inside this lavishly decorated Edwardian mansion elegant ladies and wealthy gentlemen once spent full days soaking in private thermal baths, relaxing in airy plant-filled atriums overlooking Lake Rotorua, and strolling among it's gardens. Then in 1933, a Spanish mission styled building was added to the property to house the Blue Baths, the first public pool that allowed mixed bathing. An instant hit, the Blue Baths flourished as THE place to be seen among the socially elite.

The Blue Bath House was restored and reopened in 1999 as a tea house, museum and spa pool. We walked through the former changing rooms, chuckling at the colorful pictures of ladies hanging from each door...a visual history of swimsuits throughout the ages. We walked past a game of bowling–men dressed impeccably in white were bowling on the lawn–to the Edwardian Bath House, now Rotorua's Museum of Art and History.

We began our self-guided tour with a fantastic 15 minute audio-visual display called Rotorua Stories. It was a great introduction to Rotorua's history, geology, and mythology associated with the worst disaster NZ has experienced. Just be prepared for a jolt in your seat as you see and hear and feel the volcano erupt!

Afterward we saw the exhibit on the Mt. Tarawera eruption. When it occurred in 1886, the volcano killed 120 people and destroyed the area's most famous attraction, the Pink & White Terraces. Another informative video provides demonstrations of the explosion and presents scientific information about volcanoes.

Exhibits on two floors covered Maori battles, modern art, tourism and Maori history. I especially enjoyed learning about how the Te Arawa Maori tribe paddled across the ocean in a narrow waka (canoe) and became the original settlers of Rotorua. Beautiful displays in dim light captured the mystery and allure of richly carved masks, wakas and ancestral statues. Equally captivating were exhibits on their legends, instruments, history and tanonga (treasures).

Another wing showcased former spa treatment rooms. We peered into tiny tiled rooms where celebrities and affluents once sat in bathtubs believing that electro-hydro therapy would cure their complaints (feeling fat? Zap off those unwanted pounds!). es, they'd been slightly electrocuted during their baths! Pictures and instructions on how to hook up those electrodes were still evident. And telltale signs of using unstable pipes in an unstable thermal land were evident in the rooms with collapsed floors. Imagine having been in THAT tub!

We wandered through to the basement. Pipes all around. Suddenly illuminated heads hanging amid the maze of pipes began talking–eerily narrating the engineering feats and ultimate failures of the former spa. A fitting finale for a grandiose spa where the magical cure didn't exactly pan out either.