Next Stop – Rotorua

We said goodbye to Welcome Bay and drove down Pyes  Pa Road down SH36, on the way to our next stop, Rotorua.  Lot's of ups and downs and  sharp corners as we drove through rural countryside.  This part of our trip in Rotorua is to celebrate our 40th Anniversary - way back then we had our honeymoon at Rotorua.  Goodness, where have all those years gone?  Where else to stay than the NZMCA Park at Ngongotaha.  

The  name is derived from a legend of Ihenga, the famous Māori explorer. It is said Īhenga met the Patu-paiarehe on Mount Ngongotahā and was offered a drink from a calabash. Ngongo means "to drink", and tahā means "calabash". Ngongotahā is often referred to by locals as the "Sunny side of the Mountain".

We arrived on Thursday, and the weather was sunny and warm, so warm that jumpers were divested, as were socks and shoes, in favour of sandals.  Once settled, we went to town to make a booking or two.  After all, this is our 40th Anniversary Trip and we plan to celebrate in style.  The I-Site Visitor Information Centre is housed in a wonderful building, opened in 1914 as a Post Office.  It consisted of two floors and a tower with rough cast cement plaster exterior and Tudor-style decorative timbering. The building incorporates a memorial town clock in honour of Premier Richard John Seddon, the longest-standing Prime Minister of New Zealand, who died in 1906. The clock still functions to this day.  While there, we booked an Anniversary Dinner for Sunday evening, more about that later.

Tudor style buildings, with the I-Site on the right

The rain came down overnight, and it rained heavily all day on Friday.  That meant a change of plans, much too wet to do anything outdoorsy.  So we  decided to go on a drive to Lake Rotoiti – rain or not.  Needless to say it rained, and rained, and we stopped at the end of the lake for some photos.

Lake Rotoiti

We spotted a black swan at the edge of the lake with her  brood of fluffy grey cygnets.  Mother was not at all pleased with this intrusion when we stopped to take a photo.

Mother and babies

Just a little further up the road was Hongi’s Track.  In 1823  the famous Ngapuhi warrior, Hongi, and his warriors hauled his canoes overland from Lake Rotoehu to Lake Rotoiti in order to perform a surprise raid on the Arawa people on Mokoia Island, Lake Rotorua.

Hongi Hika

There is also a plaque to Hinehopu’s tree.  When Hongi Hika and his warriors carried their war canoe past here, Hinetamairu and the young chieftainess Hinehopu, heard about the oncoming war party and hid within the tree. The tree that kept Hinehopu safe is now known as the Wishing Tree, and is still standing today. 

The story of Hinehopu’s Tree

Driving back to town through even more rain, we stopped for lunch at the Rotorua pub in my book, the Great Kiwi Pub Crawl.  Its been a while since we have checked out one of these pubs.

THis book travels with us in the caravan

The building was opened in 1940 and served as Rotorua’s Police Station until 1969.  with exterior walls 18 inches thick, it was constructed of concrete, reinforcing steel and covered with many thousands of bricks.    “Pig and Whistle”  has been around since 1993, and is a trendy bar and restaurant. There's the old police building behind that huge tree.

Pig and Whistle

We were welcomed by a friendly staff member when we stepped inside and shown to a table for lunch.  Mmm, what to have?  The weather was cold so I enjoyed Seafood Chowder, and Robin ordered pizza.  That was so big that half of it was packed up and came home with us.  The owner of the establishment signed my Pub Crawl book for me, that’s another one crossed off the list.

There was one more thing to do before e headed back to camp.  We spent our two week honeymoon here in Rotorua way back in 1983 at what was known as Post Office Cottages, in reality, a series of flats.  Robin worked at the Post Office at the time and this holiday accommodation was available to staff members at a very reasonable price.  He could remember what street they were in, but after driving up and down, we just couldn't find them.  Mind you, the flats weren't new 40 years ago, so we imagine they had been demolished and something else built on the site.  Never mind, it was worth a try.  Back at camp, the rain was still falling.  We do hope the weather clears up very soon.