Rotorua is New Zealand's answer to Bath. It has some quite surprising spa architecture dating back to the colonial period. As you approach the town the smell of sulphur can be quite overpowering. The site was very popular with Maori and they are much in evidence. We first visited Ohninemutu a Maori dominated village adjacent to Rotorua. All the houses have steam vents and piles of stones under which food is steamed. The way in which the steam power has been tapped in a simple manner is impressive, as is the magnificent carvings in the church and outside the meeting rooms.

Continuing along the lake shore you come to the Government Gardens. Croquet lawns and bowling greens nestle in a park created very much in the English municipal tradition of neat borders and bedding plants. At the far side of the gardens there is a spectacular spa building built in 1908. It is now a museum and you can walk around inside and see how the patients were treated for their various ailments. Radium and mud baths were popular, along with electric shocks. The cellars are also open showing the impressive engineering which went into the heating system. Corrosion being a major problem all the time. There is also a neighbouring open air pool, the Blue Baths which is very art deco, built in 1933. While we were there one of the many pipes sticking out by the roadside exploded with pillars of steam shooting 30 feet into the air. A workman stood by it nonchalently, clearly an every day occurrence. We headed for the Polynesian spa and relaxed in the hot baths. They were pleasant and the warmth of the water eased aching bones still suffering from the Tongariro Crossing. However the spa has not kept up with the times and its facilities look tired and a bit antiquated when you compare it with the variety and quality of Bath.

Rotorua is though a strange mixture of colonial extravagance and a slightly depressed hinterland. In the main town many of the shops are boarded and people stand around with little obvious aim. While a prosperous ring of shops and hotels surround the lake and the spa area.

There are also many organised trips to "Maori Villages". They involve demonstrations of Maori dancing, and cooking etc. These are organised by the local Maori tribes. Maori companies own many of the tourist operations throughout New Zealand. You will not see many Maori employed on the Shotover river jet boat operation, or really any sign of Maori involvement, yet it is wholly owned by a Maori tribe. Owenership of land has clearly been skilfully been translated into wide investment portfolio. The attitude of white New Zealanders to the Maori is curious. They will recommend an area, and then with a slightly apologetic tone say - 'There are a lot of Maori there but they are quite all right'. The curious attitudes are displayed in TV advertising. TV companies put on social advertising to fill the gaps left by declining adverts. Watching these adverts you would get the impression that only Maori women get cervical cancer, and only Maori families need to be encouraged to take education seriously. While the adverts have a general purpose they seem only to be directed at the Maori community.

On the other hand there are many genuine attempts to live together and work together visible in the political structures and the determined attempts to right unfair confiscations of land in the past.

Leaving Rotorua we headed North to Hamilton where we spent a pleasant lunch with a GP and his wife who had worked with Jackie's father in England. We were able to share many happy memories.