I had a wander through the Government Gardens on two different days in Rotorua—the first day I arrived, and then again at the beginning of my last day here, in my search for a good track to take around Lake Rotorua. On my first trip, I walked in through the main entrance, which was really quite a sight in itself, being very nicely designed and decorated with Maori symbols. I found the rose garden rather easily, which was nice but compared to Christchurch, not exceptional. After leaving there, I seemed to walk into a large school function at the local pool, but I finally managed to find my way through to the centrepiece of the Government Gardens, the area around the Blue Baths.Beside the Blue Baths there is a huge steaming thermal pool, which was the largest I had seen so far in Rotorua. It was cool to look at, but only for a minute or two before the smell overpowered me. The lawns outside the Blue Baths were really nice and covered in lawn bowlers having a nice day out. The Blue Baths themselves stick out, as a bright art deco building generally tends to, and were bustling with activity.Once I got past the Blue Baths I saw the museum, but I only had a peep inside. It was a museum all about the history of Rotorua and appeared to have some rather interesting information on the Blue Baths (like how horrible they were to renovate), and other local history.On my next trip around the Government Gardens, I took a track looping around behind them, along the shores of Lake Rotorua. The track started near the Polynesian Spa and went behind the Blue Baths, and then wound its way through some trees to the lake shore. There were lots of signposts with the track on it, along with informative local history. The walk along the lake was alright, but was not anything picturesque. It was kind of interesting to see the different colors of the lake depending on how shallow it was, and therefore how much sulfur it contained. I saw a whole lot of black swans as well.The track takes you all the way along the shore behind the gardens, and you could continue walking until you get into Rotorua itself, but as it looked like rain I turned around when I got to Mokoia Island, I walked around and cut through the gardens to get back to shelter.Some interesting facts I learned on the tour—one really disgusting looking thermal pool, that was the color of off coffee, used to be believed to have medicinal powers, and people would bathe in them despite the smell and the fact that they turned brown for weeks! Also, the legend of Tutanekai and Hinemoa, who swam from the shore to Mokoia Island to be with her true love, is so deeply ingrained in the city's history that the two main streets in town are named after them!
From journal Back to the North: Rotorua