Rotorua is a huge adventure city with lots of activities to kick up your adrenalin. But in the end we only had a day and a half in this fun city. We decided take a float plane over Rotorua, do the Redwood Tree Swing bridge walk and spend a few hours at Polynesia Spa.
Float Plane
Volcanic Air set us up on a DHC-3 De Havilland Otter. Our captain, Callum gave us really great commentary during our 35 minute flight.
Our take off point is just off of Lake Rotorua where we have less than 1′ depth at the departure point. It is a very shallow lake that is a bright green from the algae bloom.
We pass by Nokia Island which is a protected island full of dozens of New Zealand birds.
More beautiful shots of Lake Rotorua.
The bottom left photo is a picture of Rotorua.
Volcano Fly Over
Callum flew us over the Mount Tarawere Volcano. At first it just looked like a vast dry area, but as we got closer and flew over the crevice you could clearly see the volcano.
The colors around the volcano are spectacular. The last time it erupted in 1886 and was the largest and most destructive event in New Zealand’s history.
There are lots of amazing bike tracks and hiking trails all over the mountainsides of Rotorua.
The top photo is Sulfur Bay which has a white layer spread across the top. The lower left photo is of the frying pan and Inferno lake. The Frying Pan is the worlds largest hot spring and Inferno Lake is crystal clear blue water. The lower right is a beautiful new tree farm.
We return over Lake Rotorua and head back to “base.” But just before we get there we fly over a large logging company. Luckily, NZ forces them to plant new trees to make up for some of the trees they log.
It was a really cool experience to fly in a float plane. A first for all of us. We had super calm winds and weather conditions were good. Our pilot was super experienced and informed us of Rotorua’s history and geographical high points. Super fun experience.
Events from this blog occurred around mid-March. Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual events. Did you check out our last blog post on the geothermal pools?