A few kilometres short of Rotorua City itself, when approaching from Tauranga along State Highway 33, there is a major intersection with a roundabout which offers a left turn into Tarawera Road. This sealed highway leads to what I believe is the most beautiful multiple-lake district in New Zealand. Just winding and climbing through the stretches of dense native bush is alone sufficient reason to travel this road.
Along or just off Tarawera Road you will discover four playground lakes in the midst of high bush-clad hills, all within a few minutes drive of each other, the first being just 10k or so from State Highway 33.
Yet thousands of travellers, both New Zealand and international, drive right on passed the turn-off and completely miss out on one of the truly scenic wonders of this country.
This is because Rotorua itself is too often promoted as the No 1 New Zealand tourist destination, the nearby lakes often being ignored completely by the city's commercial-interest tourist attractions.
About half a century ago, during a short
stint as a taxi and tour-limousine operator,
my taxi was often among the queue of tour
cars lined up adjacent to visiting cruise
liners at the Auckland wharves.
More often than not tour passengers would climb in the car with the instruction: "Whakarewarewa and Waitomo Caves please driver". And off we would go on a day trip to take in the wonders of New Zealand - or rather, what the tourists had been told were the tourist wonders of New Zealand.
First stop Whaka (as it was known and referred to by most locals), later a quick cruise down to the Rotorua Lake shoreline at the end of Rotorua's main street, then off to Otorohanga and the Waitomo Caves and finally back up to Auckland and alongside the cruise liner before dark.
That was about it for the vast majority of
international visitors arriving in the mid-1900s.
Sadly, there are still many tourists who
stop off for a day or two in New Zealand
while on their way to or from an apparently
more attractive tourist country. These tourists
still do the "Tourist Triangle",
with perhaps a flying visit from the Rotorua
airport to Queenstown and back as a sort
of diversion on their way to what they have
been told is the main attraction.
If NZScenics does nothing other than persuade you and other independent touring travellers to view and experience the four lakes, Lake Tikitapu (the Blue Lake), Lake Rotokakahi (the Green Lake), Lake Tarawera and Lake Okareka, I will have achieved a major step towards encouraging NZers and NZ visitors alike to "See and experience New Zealand while you still can."