Kia Ora! Rotorua is a town on New Zealand's North Island famous for the geothermal activity and Maori Culture. Once you reach the town, you will know you are at the right place given the strong sulphur smell (some describe it as rotten eggs). We stayed there for 2 nights, reaching only in the evening on the first night, and honestly I didn't think it was enough time explore the attractions.
Our first stop was dinner at Capers Epicurean. Food portions were huge and I loved the greens! After a few days fried food didn't appeal much to me anymore, but still the food was yummy. Since our hobbiton tour was delayed, we reached Rotorua only at about 8.30pm. I called Capers on the way there to confirm whether there's a timing for "last order", which is typical in Singapore, where restaurants stop the food orders about half an hour before closing time. Thankfully they didn't practise that! They told me that they will serve me as long as I reach before 9pm. When I reached, they also checked whether I was the one who called, to make sure that they have already served the customer who called. Such good service!!
Family Amenities: High Chairs
There's a section within the restaurant where you can buy sauces, oils, teas, honeys etc. It's quite a big selection to choose from.
When we were booking our accommodation, there wasn't many choices left for Rotorua. We booked in October for the December peak period. We chose Six on Union motel for the proximity to the key attractions. The motel is very dated (reminds me of the motels I went to with my family back in 1997 in Australia), and the pillows smell of that too! It's a very basic motel with free parking right at the doorstep, kitchen, shared laundry, and even a PC. They do housekeeping daily, and the owners were very prompt in changing the microwave which broke down.
I would find an alternative if it's available, but it's ok for one night's stay given the cheap price.
I would find an alternative if it's available, but it's ok for one night's stay given the cheap price.
Only one heater beside the single bed, so it was quite cold at night as I opened the windows slightly for ventilation.
The car RIGHT outside the sliding door! We had to adjust the car several times to make space for other cars coming through the entrance.
We started the morning with a walk through the Redwoods. Despite it being summer, it was quite chilly in the woods. I'm not sure if it's just us, but we were wearing our winter jackets while we saw some locals in tank tops and shorts! There's several tracks you can choose from, but we didn't wander far enough to see any special sights.
I would love to go for the treetop walk, but we could only go provided Miss Ting can walk the entire track by herself. No carrying allowed!
Toilets in the outdoors. The water from the tap was cold!
The bark of the trees reminds me of coconut husks. Amazing colours in the sunlight.
We had lunch at Abracadabra Cafe & Bar, recommended by my friend. It's a huge restaurant with middle eastern decorations. I'd suggest a seat at the back of the restaurant if you have kids, so that they can play in the outdoor playground or with the toys available at the back.
Digging through the box of treasures
Gringo's Nachos with free range chicken - Wow I super loved this! Even my hubby who is not a fan of beans liked this!
There's utensils and stuff for kids to play with, but do note that they are playing with dirt as well. I think it's a rare experience for Miss Ting to play in such an environment so I had to let go of my OCD instincts for a while.
We were supposed to go to Waiotapu in the morning, but I didn't know the tickets can actually be sold out so I didn't try to reserve the tickets until one day before the intended date of visit. I had to change the itinerary at the very last minute (in the middle of the night at 12 in the morning when I was soooo sleepy). Ended up booking the tickets for Te Puia and Polynesia Spa, and also decided to visit Kuirau Park since it's very near Abracadabra. Do note that there's Rotorua Night Market on Thursdays so there will be crowds at the attractions!
Steaming pools of water around the parks. All the pools with hot water are blocked so it's safe for the kids (unless they climb over the railings).
We spent the afternoon at Te Puia as I wanted to visit a geyser and to see the kiwi birds. We followed a free guided tour of Te Puia and then walked around the place on our own.
Pohutu Geyser - Although we waited for a long while, we didn't get to see the eruption at the highest height of 30m.
One of the attractions of Te Puia is the Kiwi house! Unfortunately the kiwis were hiding in their nests so we could only see them through the cctv. I didn't know they are the size of chickens!
Since we were there on a Thursday, we managed to visit the Rotorua Night Market which opens only on Thursdays! It was very crowded and the food queues were LONG! Be prepared to wait for your food!
Pulled pork burger from Southern Fries. I wanted to order the Venison burger but it was sold out. This is a bit too sweet for my liking.
There was a super long queue for the meat skewers (or what we call satay here in Asia), but it was so worth it! Even Miss Ting who is not a meat lover approves of them!
Our last stop of the day was Polynesia Spa. Actually it was not supposed to be the last stop. Here's the drama. We bought the private deluxe tickets online and went there on 27 Dec at 6pm. The English speaking reception staff who served us was so rude! Makes me wonder if she received any training at all.
She told us that the earliest private deluxe room available was at 8pm, and told me to come back later. When we returned at 8pm, she told us the next room available was at 10pm, and there's nothing else she can do about it! She had a very annoyed face and didn't want to speak to me, saying that she will call her manager.
She also told us then (8pm) if we wanted the next available room we need to wait in front of the reception. Well, tell us that was an option instead of asking us to come back at 8pm and wait for another 2 hours right? There's also a no-refund policy so I wonder if that's a tactic to oversell tickets and not serve the customers. Definitely the worst experience I had in NZ!
I had a toddler with me so no way could I wait till 10pm. In the end we were given the choice of the public baths. It was very cold at 8pm outdoors so I would recommend going earlier if you are with kids. Not recommended if you are going with young children as it's crowded in the shower rooms. In the end I had to return to the motel to shower since the showers were full and it was so cold, and in any case they only had rain showers so Miss Ting will definitely make a big fuss.
The only good thing from the experience was finding out that Miss Ting is not afraid of the water! She enjoyed herself in the 38°C water and kept wanting to swim around!
I wonder if the service would be better if we visited on another day when there's no night market. But then again, we would have missed out on the delicious meat skewers!
No comments:
Post a Comment