January 19th - Rotorua Day 1

Driving down Highway 2 we knew by the smell that we were getting closer to Rotorua. Sitting on top of a geothermal hotspot (aka Satan's septic tank) Rotorua smells distinctly of rotten eggs and sulfur. It's the historical tourism hub of New Zealand, having once sat near a world famous silica terrace called the Pink and White Terraces (until a nearby volcano exploded and destroyed the landmark). People still visit the city in droves though, which is immediately apparent when you arrive in the city. The tourism infrastructure is well developed, to say the least.

After a quick stopover at the i-Site visitor center Anna and I visited the Rotorua museum, which used to serve as a bath house. The lawns at the location were impossibly immaculate, and the building architecture was beautiful. Unfortunately the admission for the museum was a bit steep ($12 per adult), so we restricted ourselves to the lobby. Most unfortunate though was the color of the building. I don't know who's idea it was to paint the museum egg yolk yellow, but I personally didn't need a visual reminder that I was sitting on a sulfur deposit.


That evening we visited the Rainbow Springs wildlife park. Rainbow Springs has a short network of walking paths that wind through towering redwoods and gorgeous fern trees. Throughout the park are streams and ponds full of rainbow trout, enclosures housing native birds, and most notably an open air kiwi viewing area that operates at night. During the twilight hours the park also illuminates the huge redwoods from below with multi-colored spotlights which gave the park a bit of a Disneyland feel, but since the redwoods are also native to California I couldn't complain.

During the day Anna and I got to see the keepers feeding the kea birds. Keas are now officially one of my favorite animals. They are an olive green alpine parrot that lives on the south island. Keas are incredibly inquisitive birds, driven to investigate anything that is novel to them. Their keen curiosity often puts them at odds with humans. They're known to remove the rubber lining from windows, rip open sleeping bags, and hoard shiny objects. Considering their destructive fascination with cars I thought it was especially funny that the Kea enclosure was sponsored by Firestone tires.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to get any good pictures of the kiwis because it was so dark, but it was a very memorable experience. The public was separated from the birds by a meter tall wall, which minimized the feeling of detachment that you get at most zoos. At one point I was standing with my hand at the top of the wall, and a kiwi came out of the shadows, walked straight up to me, and started to sniff at my fingers (which apparently smelled like grubs). That night I left Rainbow Springs feeling like I had much more of a bonding experience with the animals than is typical of most zoos and preserves.