Rotorua Guided Tours Maori Culture & Geothermal parks

Spend the afternoon experiencing Rotorua’s Maori culture and geothermal activity and see how they are intricately entwined. First a guided tour through Te Puia, Rotorua’s premier cultural attraction. This includes a visit to the wood carving school, art and craft gallery, Rotowhio Marae, weaving display, kiwi house and finally the Pohutu geyser.

Next we visit the Lakefront area to see the Maori War Canoe and learn more about Maori history and customs. A short visit to Kuirau Park to view a recent geothermal eruption site. Then finishing the day visiting the pristine and tranquil lakes of our amazing volcanic region, including views of Mount Tarawera with explanation of volcanic and Maori history.

We visit these sites in the afternoon:

• Te Puia
• Boiling Mud Pools
• Rotorua Lakefront – Maori War Canoe
• Government Gardens – Sulphur Bay
• Blue and Green Lakes
• Lake Tarawera – Lake Okareka.

This tour visits Rotorua’s most natural and popular geothermal parks.

• Wai O Tapu
• Waimangu Volcanic Valley
• Rainbow Mt and boiling mudfields

Our local naturalist guide will explain the volcanic processes of Rotorua and New Zealand.  Your clients will see volcanoes, geysers, New Zealand’s largest boiling mud pool, and hot springs on a scenic drive around volcanic landscapes of farmland, native and exotic forests.

The two heritage parks offer a variety of thermal activity; at Wai-o-tapu the amazingly colourful hot springs and moonlike landscapes are the key features along with the famous Lady Know geyser.  At Waimangu Volcanic valley the guide will explain the Mt Tarawera eruption, native flora and fauna and the geothermal features which were blown open in 1886.

Enjoy a break for lunch at 12pm at Waimagu Valley before commencing for the afternoon where we will take a journey with a local guide in the footprints of the Maori tribe “Tuhourangi“. The afternoon is spent learning about the history of the eighth wonder of the world, the pink and white terraces and the great 1886 eruption of Mount Tarawera that destroyed both the tribal village and the terraces. To bring the story alive visits are made to:

      – Buried Village, Whakarewarewa Living thermal village, Lake Tarawera, Lake Tikitapu (Blue Lake) and Lake Rotokakahi (Green Lake)  – Views of the Mt Tarawera Volcano

See where local Maori live now today in the thermal village of Whakarewarewa after being displaced by the Tarawera eruption of 1886. You can watch/purchase food cooked in the thermal waters and see the Pohutu geyser erupt. Boiling mud and thermal springs are on the guided walk through the living arts and crafts Maori village.

Then take a scenic drive to the Blue and Green Lakes lookout and visit the Buried Village which is the former tribal lands of the Tuhourangi people. Here visitors can enjoy a guided walk through excavations/museum of the Buried Village and learn the stories of the how the eruption affected the land and the peoples of this time.  The tour includes a beautiful native bush walk to a waterfall and Lake Tarawera lookouts.