Rotorua, New Zealand

My notes on the Fat Dog Cafe are scant but I remember this place well. I love the cafe culture in New Zealand and Fat Dog Cafe dishes it up very well. It's recommended by numerous guide books which is what led us there in the first place. Rotorua was a veritable ghost town on the winter night that we visited and Fat Dog was a wonderful way to come in out from the cold and relax. The dinner was excellent and the portions were huge. They also offer take-away service which we made good use of, packing some Afghan cookies for dessert a little later.

A visit to the Tamaki Maori village with Hangi and concert was a great way to spend the evening overall - especially as I was travelling with my Mom at the time. The only significant downfall of the evening was that on the bus ride back to Rotorua the bus driver made us sing Oh Canada (I should never be allowed to sing in public, much less forced); I tell you this partly so you understand that this is very much an organized tourist attraction with staff that try to "get you involved" throughout the evening. But it was a great night despite the fact that it was a mega tourist attraction. The whole evening was well done: we were picked up from our hotel and taken to the Maori village out of town. Upon approach to the village we were engaged in a "challenge" by the Maori tribe, as is customary in the culture. You have a chance to see a Maori warrior dance with his paihia and make a peace offering to the group. You are then welcomed into the "village" where you see people gathered around huts and fires, engaged in a variety of games. We learned that each game is fun but has a purpose: develop reaction times, enhance peripheral vision, strengthen the forearms etc. to make better warriors of the players. The concert was informative and entertaining and you can never get too much of the Haka. The food at the concert (the Hangi) was very good (surprisingly good from my perspective!). We dined on chicken, kumara, carrot, potato and steamed pudding with custard - all cooked using a traditional hangi-open fire/hot stone method. All in all it was a good night and we came home with full tummies and a greater understanding of the ancient Maori culture. In my four months in New Zealand I found Rotorua to be one of the most useful cities for learning about Maori customs and traditions and this evening out presents a nice crash course on these things. It's a costly enough evening at $95 but is worth the money, in my opinion.

Ohinemutu is the original Maori village around which Rotorua was founded. You'll enjoy seeing the big meeting house on site and St. Faith's: an anglican church decorated with Maori carvings and weavings. The most notable part of St. Faith's is a glass window that depicts Christ (dressed in Maori attire). The way in which the window is positioned it looks as though he is walking on water (since the village sits at Lake Rotorua). Also interesting at Ohinemutu is the thermal activity which is quite apparent around the village. The ground is warm to the touch and the cracks and crevices steam all around you.

Our visit to Ohinemutu was a quiet affair. It's an independent outing in that there are no staff on site...but like many New Zealand attractions there are little pamphlets you can purchase at the location (via the honour system) which will assist you in understanding what you are seeing.

I began writing this review in the context of the tour company we traveled used to travel to Mt. Tarawera. In consulting said tour company’s website to get the exact name of the eco-tour we had booked, I noticed that it seems to no longer be an option. This may be due to difficulties similar to my experience (which I will describe generically below). As you will see – visiting Mt. Tarawera itself was another grand experience and is highly recommended; however, please book your trip to the crater with caution and ask numerous questions as to the fitness level required.

On the whole, visiting Mt. Tarawera was another awesome ecological sight to behold. BUT we certainly had not been fully aware of what we were getting into when we booked our trip.

Our 4x4 vehicle picked us up and we found six others already on board – dressed in full-on hiking gear and complete with Leki hiking poles in some cases. Here’s my 61 year old mom in her Doc Maarten Mary Janes and me in Converse tennis shoes. The guide then proceeds to start talking about “Base Camp”. “Base camp??” My mother and I looked at each other totally wide-eyed. “What have we gotten into here?”. Sure enough, after a 10 km drive up the side of the volcano we walked to the biggest crater and were then asked to vote as a group as to whether we wanted to (i) take an easy walk around the top of the volcano and peer in at the crater from above (ii) take a moderately challenging skree slide into the crater and then walk out (iii) climb to the summit and do the “long skree slide” into the crater. Well, this democratic system creates numerous problems as I’m sure you might well imagine in a mixed group of serious hikers and not-so-serious tourists.

My mom walked about 10 feet towards the edge of the crater and froze with fear of height. I don’t think I’ve ever seen my poor mother so terrified. From our perspective it was quite clear that our only option was to vote for number (i) – the easy walk around the top of the volcano. This would not have been a problem but for the other six members of our group who were 100% adamant that they were going to do the summit climb. Several awkward moments to follow as the guide explains that we are *technically* all supposed to stay together and do the same trek. In the end, though a violation of the policies of the company, the “trampers” went off on their own to the summit while myself, my mother and one guide stayed on the easy trail. We took tons of photos and then watched the rest of the group as they made their way around the summit. The views on Tarawera were spectacular to say the least and I don’t know that it will be anytime soon that I again have the opportunity to peer into a still-active volcano. From a distance, I would also have to say that the skree slide looked incredibly fun and would likely be an excellent little adventure for pre-teens and teenagers traveling with their parents. So at face value – the tour was fine and good; however, it was very much tainted for us by the atmosphere of the group and the disappointment of not knowing what we were to expect.

My mother, of course, felt terrible that her much younger, healthier and fit daughter could not do the summit climb “because of her” but the simple fact was, I was completely improperly dressed anyways in jeans and converse runners. The tour company we used was completely and woefully inadequate in describing the level of fitness and the type of hiking to be expected on this trip. It was extremely unfortunate. To reiterate, I haven’t named the tour company as my research today shows that they may have stopped offering this tour and thus it seems unfair to impeach them unnecessarily. I can indicate that there are numerous other tour companies offering visits to Tarawera as well as helicopter trips to view it from above. I highly recommend visiting the crater if you can – it is another awe-inspiring experience; however as my story above will hopefully indicate – ask lots of questions in booking the trip and dress accordingly for your eco-challenge! Trips to the volcano are generally not inexpensive and you will want to enjoy your day as much as possible.