WaioTapu Pohutu Geyser and the Maori Geothermal village -Rotorua

WaioTapu Pohutu Geyser and the Maori Geothermal village -Rotorua

Geothermal Highlights Tour

If you have been to Rotorua before, or have seen geysers in Yellowstone or Iceland and want something slightly different, then this is a tour worth considering.

Wai-o-Tapu (meaning Sacred Waters) is very different to all the other geothermal fields in New Zealand. Dissolved minerals have created spectacularly coloured pools and long silica terraces.

Whakarewrewa Maori Geothermal Village This little village is unique in the World. The ancestors of the families that still live here, moved to this area after the 1886 eruption of nearby Mount Tarawera. Their houses are located in an amazing geothermal field of boiling bubbling pools which they use for cooking, heating and bathing.

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Stop At: Cruise Tauranga, Tauranga 3110 New Zealand

This tour covers almost everything you need to see when your cruise ship visits Tauranga. Rotorua, Wai-o-Tapu, Geysers including Pohutu the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, boiling pools at the Maori Geothermal Village of Whakarewarewa, a Maori Cultural show, visit a Kiwi fruit orchard and and sample green, gold and red kiwifruit. Enjoy a drive through Government Gardens to the lakeside and time permitting Kuirau Park. This tour has it all! .

Duration: 7 hours

Stop At: Mt Maunganui Main Beach, Marine Parade, Mount Maunganui, Tauranga New Zealand

Here you can admire the amazing beach with golden sands stretching for miles, hear Maori legends and the geology behind our volcanoes, geysers boiling pools and earthquakes. We are not called the 'Shaky Isles' for nothing. Then we drive through rolling countryside, shaped by volcanic action over millions of years through a mixture of farmland, native forest and pine plantation, to Rotorua.

Duration: 15 minutes

Stop At: Whakarewarewa, The Living Maori Village, 17 Tryon Street Whakarewarewa, Rotorua 3010 New Zealand

This village, occupied by the Maori tribe Tūhourangi Ngāti Wāhiao, sits in the middle of a very active geothermal area. The people here have used the boiling pools for heating, cooking and bathing for centuries. It's a place unique in the World. While you are here view geysers and Pohutu, the largest geyser in the Southern Hemisphere. Time permitting, enjoy a Maori cultural show. You will never visit a place like it again.

Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: Government Gardens, Queens Dr 9 Queens Dr, Rotorua New Zealand

As we leave Rotorua, we will have time to drive through Government Gardens and see the amazing original geothermal bathhouse. Time permitting we will stop on the lakeside and say 'hello' to our native black swans

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland, 201 Waiotapu Loop Road Rd 3, Rotorua 3073 New Zealand

Here we visit another and distinctly different geothermal field to the one at Whakarewarewa. It has fewer visitors and is much larger giving you time to enjoy and photograph the amazingly coloured pools. This will also be our lunch stop (lunch is not included) with time to relax in the cafe.

Duration: 2 hours

Stop At: Okere Falls Track, Okere Falls New Zealand

On our way back to Tauranga, we should have time for a short walk to visit the Okere Falls and the Kaituna River. It may also be the only opportunity you have to experience native New Zealand sub-tropical rain forest. The Kaituna is used extensively for rafting, and if you are lucky, you will get to see these 'thrill seekers' as they navigate the waterfalls and rapids. Whilst in the forest, you should get an opportunity to sample medicinal plants and hear about New Zealand's bird dominated ecology (and the impact of the arrival of the fist humans, Polynesians, about 850 years ago).

Duration: 20 minutes

Stop At: Kiwifruit Country, 316 State Highway 33, Paengaroa 3189 New Zealand

Te Puke, a small town in the Bay of Plenty, is rightly known as the 'Kiwi Fruit Capital of the World'. The fruit was first grown here commercially and the region still accounts for around 80% of New Zealand's kiwi fruit production. At Kiwifruit country you can get up close to the vines and learn a bit about their husbandry and the new varieties of fruit that are under development. You will also get a chance to sample green and gold fruit, and if you are lucky, Kiwi Berries and the new 'red' variety. For ice cream lovers, kiwifruit flavour is a 'must'.

Duration: 30 minutes