I grew up downwind of a paper mill town.
Those of you who've done the same probably know where I'm going with this. Those of you who haven't had that pleasure in life, well, let's just say, paper mills have a certain odor about them that's quite...unique.
To some, it smells of lovely things like rotten eggs and spoiled cabbage. To me, it smells like...home. ;)
So when we planned a trip to Rotorua -- a resort area on the North Island that's known for a certain stench -- I wasn't too bothered by all the warnings my friends gave me.
"Oh, get ready for the smell," they said.
"Tell the kids to hold their noses!" they said.
"Rotorua? It stinks there!" they said.
And they weren't wrong. Rotorua smells.
But what my friends and well-meaning strangers didn't know is that I was born and raised on that stench. No drama here ;)
Rotorua's a fascinating place from a geological perspective. The small city was built on the shores of a beautiful lake in a hotbed of geothermal activity. Geysers and mud pools spring up from the depths. Hot thermal springs roil with boiling water. On a drive down the main street, you can see steam wafting up through the storm drains, sometimes clouding the view.
The brewing and bubbling is due to the fact that Rotorua is part of the Taupo Volcanic Zone, a large swath of the North Island that's had volcanic activity going on now for two million years and counting. A giant layer of magma (read: hot lava) lies just 10 kilometers below the surface here, so things got pretty heated 'round these parts.
It's pretty amazing. And definitely smelly since these hot pools and springs have a high sulfur content. Coincidentally, this same chemical is to blame for the nose-scrunching in my hometown. Paper-making requires sulfur, which gives off that lovely rotten egg smell locals grow to love (we do, right? ;).
So once you get over the stench, Rotorua becomes a charming little place with lovely public gardens and parks, interesting architecture and a bevy of tourist attractions. You can play mini-golf with live bunnies hopping around your feet. You can take a gondola to the top of a mountain and ride a hard-to-brake luge back down (I wouldn't recommend it :). You can mountain bike all day on all kinds of muddy trails, or explore a recreated Maori village. You can wander through a redwood forest. You can eat at a buffet.
Locals like to call it RotoVegas -- to which I think, "Hmm, I don't think these people have actually been to Vegas." But, at the same time, the town is one of the most tourist-y places we've seen in New Zealand -- even though most shops and restaurants still close by 8 p.m. (That's New Zealand for you!)
Hands down the best part of our visit was a soak in a geothermal pool. For this, we drove out of Rotorua to a resort about 20 minutes away in the Waikite Valley. On the drive, we could see steam rising from all parts of the landscape, hinting at the geothermal activity brewing just below the surface.
The springs that feed the resort reach a boiling point, so water has to be cooled before filling the pools. A big swimming area (which the kids loved) was cooled to about 97 degrees Fahrenheit, with smaller pools tipping 100. It felt GLORIOUS. And I like to think the natural minerals and sulfates in the water healed all of my maladies and reversed the aging process -- just like folks in the old days believed. :)
(I mean, look at me! I'm glowing! ;)
We quite enjoyed our visit to Rotorua and plan to go back to explore more around the area and take another soak in these heavenly pools.
It's also comforting to know I have a place to go if ever I need a whiff of home ;)
