The town of Rotorua is situated on the south shore of a large lake (about 7.5 miles long) which is named after the city (or maybe the city is named after the lake; in any case, they have the same name). The lake is a volcanic caldera (i.e. collapsed volcano) in which water from nearby sources has collected. The last major eruption of the volcano took place 240,000 years ago, so it would seem a repeat performance is not imminent. The lake has an island called Mokoia Island, which figures prominently in Maori legend and is now kept as a bird sanctuary with limited public access.

From Te Puia we returned to our hotel, from which we set out on a search for lunch. This search took us to a café on the shore of the lake. The café has a lovely view of the lake and features unusual hamburgers (they consist of a large bun on which is found a smallish patty of oddly flavored meat resting on a small salad, including carrots), at least by American burger standards. After lunch we stood on the shore and gazed at the lake, but not for long, as it was bloody cold.


We got back in the car and set out for the next adventure on our itinerary, Skyline Skyrides, which we hoped would be warmer.