Exploring Rotorua, NZ: A Place to Visit, Not to Stay?

Exploring Rotorua, New Zealand: Zorbing, Geothermal Spas, and Culinary Delights | WSMH Travels Podcast

In this episode of the We Should Move Here Travels podcast, hosts Brittany and Josh dive into their adventures in Rotorua, New Zealand. They discuss a variety of activities, including zorbing, geothermal spas at Hell's Gate, and zip lining with Rotorua Canopy Tours. The duo also shares their experiences trying local cuisine at various eateries like Eat Street, Okere Falls Store, and Pataka Kai. They provide tips on making the most out of visiting this high-tourism area while reflecting on its unique attractions and overall livability.

00:00 Welcome to the We Should Move Here Travels Podcast

00:20 Exploring Rotorua: The Wisconsin Dells of New Zealand

01:34 Zorbing Adventures in Rotorua

04:40 Relaxing at Hell's Gate Geothermal Park

08:11 Zip Lining with Rotorua Canopy Tours

14:25 Cooling Down at Aura Accommodation

15:59 Dining at Eat Street and Okere Falls Store

21:25 Delicious Waygu Beef Burger

21:36 Matcha Cheesecake Review

21:58 Ice Cream Adventures at Eat Street

22:54 Buffet Experience at Pataka Kai

24:47 Rating Rotorua's Food Scene

26:58 Coffee Culture in Rotorua

28:28 Exploring Rotorua's Natural Beauty

29:26 Accommodation and Local Tips

31:14 Walkability and Transportation

32:35 Zorbing and Other Fun Activities

33:05 Affordability and Shopping Tips

35:08 Work-Life Balance in Rotorua

37:22 Driving in New Zealand

39:07 Final Thoughts on Rotorua

42:04 Looking Forward to Auckland

@WSMHtravels

Transcript

brit 0:11

Hello and welcome to the We Should Move Here Travels podcast. My name is Brittany.

josh 0:17

I'm Josh

brit 0:18

and we are your hosts. Today we are gonna be talking about Rotorua New Zealand.

josh 0:25

Yes. The Wisconsin Dells of New Zealand,

brit 0:28

pretty much. They had so many activities to do. It was wild. There was so much to do and it all involved, like the natural spas that occur in Rotorua

josh 0:43

Yeah, all the geothermal spas that you're referring to, it just, it wasn't like Queenstown where it was high adrenaline activities. it had so many different activities jammed into this one area that weren't all particularly relevant to the culture of New Zealand, or they weren't things that you couldn't get just about everywhere else. At least that's what seemed like for us as people in Wisconsin where. You have laser tag and you can get that anywhere and you have boat rides and you can get that anywhere. So maybe it was, only stuff you can do in Rotorua and for locals that's a big tourist spot for them. But for people outside of that, especially people from the United States, I feel like there are a lot of activities that you could get anywhere. Like you don't need to go and play laser tag in Rotorua New Zealand.

brit 1:33

Yeah. Although we did do something that was very specific to New Zealand and that is Zorbing, we did Zorbing in Rotorua and we basically rode in a hamster ball down a, a big hill and they filled it with some water. My mom didn't go in. She did not want to partake in that. But you and I did we raced down the first one. You beat me, but I was just giggling away in there. And then we did the second one, which is like the windy one together. Oh my God. That was so fun.

josh 2:15

That was incredibly fun. Yeah. I wasn't, uh, I, I was locked in during the race portion. I got in there and got my, myself situated just right. So I was, I was built for speed going down the first one,

brit 2:28

but Oh, I wasn't, I was just having a ball. I was giggling, I was laying down and I was just like trying not to, I don't know. Flip. Yeah, because my mom kind of scared me, but I think that's like impossible in those things.

josh 2:43

It's pretty hard, I think, unless you're trying to get yourself flipped inside. I don't think you can.

brit 2:48

Yeah. Yeah.

josh 2:50

But then when we went down together. It can get dangerous in there. We had to hold onto each other's thighs while we were going down to make sure we didn't slosh around and bump into each other.

brit 3:01

So, well, you were holding onto my thighs. I was holding onto your head like, please don't bump me anywhere with your head. I didn't want our heads to clash.

josh 3:11

I don't even remember that. I just, that one, I got the giggles real bad.'cause you go into embankments and you hit like a fence or a wall, and then you slide to the other side of the course.

brit 3:23

Oh my gosh.

josh 3:23

It was a great time. And it was the place where zorbing was invented.

brit 3:28

It was.

josh 3:28

that was a good time. Another thing that was recommended by our sister-in-law said we had go zorbing before we even started planning our trip to New Zealand. So Yep. You made sure that that was something we got to while we were there.

brit 3:40

Well, I was hesitant at first, I think, and then the more I looked at it, I was like, okay, yeah, we gotta do this.

josh 3:47

Mm-hmm.

brit 3:48

So,

josh 3:49

and their setup is pretty slick. And we went during a weekday and there was hardly anyone else there. We got to the front of the queue, they take you in a small van up to the top of the hill and. You just get on a platform. There are people there, they fill up with some cold water. You jump in, you go down. It's a 10 minute process in total.

brit 4:13

So not even that.

josh 4:15

Right.

brit 4:15

I mean, going down the hill is like 30 seconds.

josh 4:17

Oh yeah. Down the hill is 30 seconds. But I mean like from check-in to going, it could take you 10 minutes. So.

brit 4:22

Yeah. Well we also went in the morning. Mm-hmm. Right away. So there wasn't a line or a bunch of people.

josh 4:30

Mm-hmm.

brit 4:31

whereas we heard that later in the day, it does get busy. So that is a little tip if you do plan on going here to get there early.

josh 4:38

Yeah. Go there before lunch.

brit 4:40

Yeah.

josh 4:41

And then we also went ahead and we went to Hell's Gate that day.

brit 4:46

We did. Mm-hmm. That was really fun too. That was a different kind of experience. I've never done a, geothermal bath before. Mm-hmm. And they also had mud baths. it was, a new experience for both of us, and my skin was left so soft. I have this part of my hand that no matter how much lotion I put on it, it just, it dries right up. Call it my alligator skin.'cause it kind of feels like that sometimes. But it was so soft afterwards and I was like, wow, maybe this mud does something. Or maybe it was the water. I don't know. Because we did the mud bath and then we went into the geothermal hot bath. Yeah, like hot springs.

josh 5:33

Yeah. Like mineral pool, something like that.

brit 5:36

Yeah.

josh 5:36

Mm-hmm.

brit 5:37

And then we did the cold plunge after that. And that wasn't that cold.

josh 5:42

No. Being from Wisconsin and the occasional shutoff of the hot water heater, we get some pretty cold water in the winter. I, I'm still working on the hot water heater. It's a problem.

brit 5:55

I'll be taking a hot shower and then all of a sudden it is super cold and I'm like, ah, it's, yeah, it's a problem. We, we gotta figure that out.

josh 6:07

Home ownership issues.

brit 6:09

Yeah.

josh 6:09

But no, for the mud bath, you and me were both a little skeptical. That was definitely something your mom, Vicky was pushing for.

brit 6:17

Mm-hmm.

josh 6:18

She's like, we gotta do this, or, and she was like, oh if you guys don't want to, I definitely wanna do it. So, mm-hmm. We went ahead, went to Hell's Gate. There's a couple others around there, but Hell's Gate was the easiest to get to from Rotorua and the most popular. And it was simple. It was easy. It was, it didn't cost all that much, if I remember correctly. And it was interesting to rub mud all over your body and then sit there for 20 minutes to let it dry. That was such an interesting thing.

brit 6:54

Even the thought of it now just kind of grosses me out. But, But we did it.

josh 6:59

We did it. And it's, it's like slimy mud. It's, oh, it's such a interesting feeling and texture. And then it's even more interesting when it starts to dry on you and there's someone there with a timer. You check in, you start getting time.'cause they only want you in there for 20 minutes, either for health reasons or just to make sure that there's room for everyone to do it. Mm-hmm. And then you go into the mineral pool and. I don't know, just relax after that and let everything take effect.

brit 7:31

Yeah.

josh 7:32

And then like you said, the cold plunge. And so it was a fun experience and you can do an even longer day where you get a tour throughout the whole geothermal area and they explain that to you. That wasn't something that we were interested in, and it was a bit more pricey of a package. But we didn't have to book anything ahead of time. We just decided that morning after we went absorbing, we're like, ah, we're wet. Now we got these clothes on. Let's, let's go ahead and let's do this. So

brit 7:59

yeah, let's do some more wet activities.

josh 8:02

Yeah,

brit 8:03

that's what she said.

josh 8:10

What else did we do there? Another, uh, activity that's big there, several different companies do. It was we did zip lining with the Rotorua canopy tours.

brit 8:19

Yes. They were incredible. I was really scared. Okay. I was, I, I've never done real zip lining before, and the instructors that we had were so nice and they made us laugh along the way. They were so knowledgeable, they made me feel really safe. So I would definitely recommend Rotorua Canopy tours. We did the shorter one, and I wish we would've done the longer one, but also it didn't take as long, so we were able to, to do other things that day and that kind of worked out. So, I don't know, do whichever one you want, but the shorter one was really great.

josh 9:02

Mm-hmm.

brit 9:02

We did have a really long zip line and the tree was what, like 80 meters high,

josh 9:09

something like that. 60 to 80 meters high. Yeah. Oh

brit 9:11

my God. It was so scary being on top of that tree. I was like, I was thinking about it and I was trying not to think about it, but I couldn't help it. And I was like, what if this tree is like rotting and they don't know, and then it all falls and then We're all screwed But that didn't happen, obviously

josh 9:31

those intrusive, anxious thoughts.

brit 9:34

Yeah, just

josh 9:34

creeping in.

brit 9:35

But it was really cool. It was really high up and it was beautiful. That was the longest one that we did.

josh 9:41

Yeah. And there were a couple long ones. They start you out really well, like you said, great instructors, really friendly. And it's like a zip lining course. Mm-hmm. And so you kinda walk into the woods and they talk you through, kind of like native species and environmental advocacy work that they do and stuff. And so it's really educational as well. But then once you get to the zip line, you do two short ones just to kind of get you warmed up and then you start doing some longer ones. Mm-hmm. And yeah, just the way it was set up was really great beforehand, we. Had bought in their little office area, these lanyards that could hold your phone. So each of us got one of those and took our phones with, so we could take our videos when we, when we went through and then took videos of each other when we went. And so that was a good, a good purchase. So if you end up doing this, maybe have one beforehand, something to attach to yourself or buy one of their lanyards there. They weren't that expensive and they worked out well.

brit 10:48

Yeah, for sure.

josh 10:50

I thought it was really interesting, and I don't remember if it was something that you knew beforehand, but with snakes, there's no snakes in New Zealand.

brit 11:01

Yeah, I knew that.

josh 11:03

Yeah, I, I didn't remember that. You might have told me. But then they talked about it during our walk into the forest and.

brit 11:10

Yeah, there's no snakes. No native species other than a bat.

josh 11:15

Mm-hmm.

brit 11:15

Which is crazy, but there are some animals that obviously have been brought over throughout the years they're kind of consuming the forest, so they try to keep them very minimal.

josh 11:28

Yeah.

brit 11:28

In the forest.

josh 11:29

Yeah. And that was their biggest, like environmental advocacy issues that we, they were talking with like possums and

brit 11:36

yeah.

josh 11:37

Rats, stuff like that. Because such green, lush forest and it doesn't, a lot of the trees don't naturally like have a fall season where leaves drop. Mm-hmm. Like things do in Wisconsin. So these invasive species, they go up into the trees and kill the tree from the top down by eating all, if it's leaves and stuff.

brit 12:00

Yeah.

josh 12:01

So it was, it was very interesting to see and have explained to So Rotorua Canopy Tours would highly recommend. That was something that we had booked early on ahead of time. I definitely think that's something that you have to book before your trip. Otherwise, it'd probably get filled up.

brit 12:16

Yeah, I would think so. I think we booked it on TripAdvisor.

josh 12:20

I think so. Yeah. They, they have their own website where you can book it through there, but we often use Viator and TripAdvisor for bookings like that.'cause you get. Some points and stuff as well.

brit 12:32

Yeah.

josh 12:33

As long as it, as long as there's a deal and makes sense, we kind of float between booking it straight through the website or one of those two sites.

brit 12:41

Yeah. It was really fun. And by the end of it, there's this like suspension bridge that doesn't have railing at all. And you have to go out there and then they like encourage you to take your hands off the rope and kind of lean out. Past the bridge.

josh 13:01

Mm-hmm.

brit 13:02

And I didn't take my hands off the rope, but I did lean and you leaned and so did my mom. And it was just, oh my gosh, that was so scary. But I felt so good after that. I was like, I can do anything.

josh 13:15

Yeah.

brit 13:16

And then the next one, the next was the last zip line, and they were like, yeah, you can go upside down in this one. And I'm like, uh, yeah, I'm not doing that. You did that though. And Oh my gosh, you did so good.

josh 13:29

Thank you. Yeah. I, I tried,

brit 13:31

you did it so well.

josh 13:32

Thank you.

brit 13:33

Yes. And I did not do it, but that's okay.

josh 13:36

Yeah.

brit 13:37

We all have different strengths and talents and going upside down in the forest on a steel wire is not one of mine. It's one of yours.

josh 13:49

Well, something that is, neither one of our talents is dealing with an extreme amount of heat.

brit 13:56

Ooh.

josh 13:57

And direct sunlight.

brit 13:59

Yeah. That really affected us here. It gets really hot. And. You can get sunburned really easily,

josh 14:07

very easily.

brit 14:08

And I think it definitely took a lot out of you. Oh. Because I was watching your behavior change throughout the day and I was like, Ooh, we gotta get him inside in some AC and take a nap.

josh 14:19

The sun was killing me.

brit 14:21

Yeah, it was rough. It was pretty rough. But I was really happy that the hotel we had, we stayed at. Aura accommodation had a pool. Mm-hmm. And this pool was so nice. It was, it was heated, it was outdoor, it was clean. It was amazing.

josh 14:42

Yeah. And they had some covering over part of it. So it was like partially shaded.

brit 14:48

Got to be mermaids. What was your mermaid name?

josh 14:51

Oh, it was

brit 14:53

sulfur.

josh 14:54

Sulfur. And yours was

brit 14:57

Thermalithica.

josh 14:58

Thermalithica

brit 14:59

sulfur and Thermalithica swimming in the pool. I don't remember what my mom's was. Did she come up with one?

josh 15:05

I don't remember. I think she did, but I don't know if it was, uh. Nearly as creative.

brit 15:10

We had wanted to go off of the smell in Rotorua, which is very sulfur forward. Mm. With all of the geothermal activity there. So we wanted to go off of like sulfur and thermal and all of that, so.

josh 15:25

Right.

brit 15:25

Yeah. We had some fun in the pool. We

josh 15:28

did.

brit 15:28

And we cooled down in the pool. It was nice.

josh 15:31

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Our accommodation there, one you found was fantastic.

brit 15:37

Yeah, it was a really incredible hotel. I really appreciated the location, the pool, even the room setup was like, it was so nice. And the beds, they weren't terrible.

josh 15:48

Mm-hmm.

brit 15:49

I think they were a little soft. So if somebody likes a firmer mattress, maybe not your kind of mattress, but it was also right down the road from Eat Street.

josh 15:59

Yes.

brit 16:00

Which is this street that has a bunch of different restaurants Maybe like a five minute walk.

josh 16:06

Yeah.

brit 16:07

To this street. And it's just a short little path that has a bunch of restaurants.

josh 16:12

Yeah. Yeah. It's like a indoor outdoor situation the entire. Section of this street has a covering. So even if it's raining outside, you can kind of walk between the restaurants. Mm-hmm. And you got a lot of choices. A couple good ones. We went to a few and it was pretty, pretty decent food.

brit 16:32

Yeah. I would agree. And there's so many options

josh 16:35

Yeah.

brit 16:36

There that you could really eat anything, any food you're craving. It seems like you could go there.

josh 16:41

Yeah, for sure. We ate at urban Gusto. They had pretty decent pizza. We had a little pizza from there.

brit 16:49

Oh, that pizza. It was a hot honey. Mm-hmm. Hot salami pizza.

josh 16:53

Yes.

brit 16:54

That was really good. my mom got the lasagna.

josh 16:57

Yes.

brit 16:57

That was pretty good as well.

josh 16:59

Mm-hmm.

brit 17:00

And then you got a Caesar salad. That wasn't great.

josh 17:03

Nope. Caesar salad was bad.

brit 17:05

That one wasn't great.

josh 17:06

It was mostly croutons. Mm-hmm. Such a weird salad. Uh, it was trying to balance out from the last episode. If you heard, we had a meal that was way too heavy, so I was like, you know what? I'll get this Caesar salad. Help us out. And then it was just croutons.

brit 17:24

Yeah. I mean, I like croutons, but

josh 17:27

not the entire salad. It's,

brit 17:29

yeah,

josh 17:30

it's pretty rough. If we post a picture of this, it's,

brit 17:33

and we had a biscoff cheesecake. Mm-hmm. And a cup. Ooh. That was pretty good.

josh 17:38

Man. I, bischoff does something for me.

brit 17:42

It really does. You always like fan over bischoff.

josh 17:46

Yeah. Yeah. When we're on planes and the flight attendant comes around and they ask you, you want something sweet, savory, and they got bischoff. I'm like, gimme a couple bischoffs. That's for me. I don't know why, I don't know if this is a thing, but I have found comfort in the same order. From flight attendants on planes, it's Biscoff Cookies and Coke Zero or Diet Coke. I just,

brit 18:11

yeah. You always order a Diet Coke.

josh 18:13

Yeah. I go for the Coke Zero, diet Coke, whichever one they have. And I get it just in the can. And they ask for like, you want an iced cup? You know, gimme the can.

brit 18:21

You know what you like.

josh 18:22

I know what I like.

brit 18:24

I mean, speaking of food. Mm-hmm. We also went to this place called the Okere Falls Store.

josh 18:32

Mm-hmm.

brit 18:33

And it was a cute little store with a bunch of different, I don't know. Crafty things almost. Yeah. But they had a whole restaurant and it was like an indoor outdoor situation. Mm-hmm. And we sat outdoors the food was really, really good. Mm-hmm. I got the avocado toast, which I would highly recommend. Yeah. That was delicious.

josh 18:55

It was fantastic.

brit 18:56

My mouth is watering. Looking at this picture.

josh 18:59

I know. I'm pulling these up and ugh. Your mom got a open face, cold smoke, salmon and

brit 19:07

eggs. Benedict.

josh 19:08

Benedict. Yep.

brit 19:09

Yeah.

josh 19:09

And that was really good. Delicious. I got this like chicken barbecue with a like balsamic. Glaze. And cheese. And that was fantastic. Loved it.

brit 19:22

Yeah. That was their toasty of the month, I think.

josh 19:25

Yes, it was. Yep.

brit 19:26

Super good. Yeah, definitely would recommend this place. Another one that our sister-in-law recommended was this place. and she had recommended the meat pies, but there wasn't a single meat pie in the menu when we went. So, this is what we ordered and we loved it.

josh 19:40

yeah, it was fantastic. Maybe they had meat pies in the past and just went away from it. But yeah, these were good. And then we had a slice of their homemade carrot cake, which was. Delicious. Loved it.

brit 19:52

Phenomenal.

josh 19:53

Mm-hmm.

brit 19:54

Really Great place with cute, like homey kind of vibes.

josh 19:58

Yeah. Would've loved to go there multiple times.'cause it's a little out of the way. Seems like a local spot. Lot of locals go there. Mm-hmm. And it was great. They, like you said, they had outdoor seating, so there were a lot of people who had their dogs there.'cause there was. Like a beach right across the street. Yeah. And their dogs had gone swimming in the lake, and then they were over there resting under the covered outdoor pavilion. And so we got to say hi to some dogs. And it's always one of my favorite parts of trips is meeting all the dogs.

brit 20:30

Yeah. There was a dog, Molly. Yeah. Was it Molly?

josh 20:33

Molly?

brit 20:34

Oh my gosh. Molly was a sweetheart.

josh 20:35

She was,

brit 20:36

you could tell she was playing in the water.

josh 20:38

Mm-hmm.

brit 20:39

She was a little wet. Yeah. And trying off and Oh my God, she was so sweet.

josh 20:43

Yeah.

brit 20:43

Uh, but staying on the food topic, so we also went to CBK. And we got some mussels for an appetizer. Those mussels were in like a wine cream sauce.

josh 20:55

Mm-hmm.

brit 20:56

That was good.

josh 20:57

Yeah. Really good appetizer. We really didn't do like a ton of appetizers on the trip, but this one was rocking.

brit 21:05

Yeah, that was a great one. we got fish and chips, which were delicious.

josh 21:10

Classic.

brit 21:11

There was a Asian beef salad

josh 21:14

much better than the Caesar salad from the Italian place.

brit 21:17

Mm-hmm. It had like, I ordered this one. It had like thin rice noodles.

josh 21:23

Mm-hmm.

brit 21:23

It was incredible.

josh 21:25

Yes.

brit 21:25

And then we got a waygu beef burger. So delicious. The sauce that came with that one. I think it was like a garlic aioli.

josh 21:32

Yeah.

brit 21:33

That was amazing. Would highly recommend that place as well. And then we got a what was it, matcha

josh 21:40

cheesecake. Mm-hmm.

brit 21:41

That was okay. I thought it was pretty good, but it was a little heavy. Heavier than I had expected. Yeah.

josh 21:48

Yep. Totally agree. I always love matcha, so it's hard to make me hate anything matcha. So I still thought it was good, but yeah, just slightly heavy.

brit 21:56

Yeah. But overall pretty good. And we also went to the ice cream place that was right down the road that started, it's like on the corner when you first walk into Eat Street.

josh 22:07

Yeah. If you're coming from The Lakeside. Yeah.

brit 22:10

Yeah. and that ice cream was really delicious, although you can't really make me hate any ice cream. So I don't know if I'm a good ice cream judge to be honest, but it was really good.

josh 22:22

You do love Blue Moon though.

brit 22:25

I do

josh 22:26

ice cream. And they had a bluey ice cream that you enjoyed?

brit 22:32

Yeah. I don't think we got a picture of that one, but we got a picture of, uh, the one when we went with my mom. Mm-hmm. And we all picked a scoop and then we just shared, and that was, it was really good.

josh 22:44

Yeah. That's Lady Jane's ice cream parlor. That's a really good spot. If you like ice cream.

brit 22:49

Who doesn't like ice cream? Pataka Kai. Oh yeah. Is another spot that we went to that was the buffet. And it was on almost like a reservation, I wanna say.

josh 23:03

Is something similar to that or like protected lands?

brit 23:07

Yeah.

josh 23:08

Something like that.

brit 23:09

Yeah. And this buffet was delicious. You could try new things. So I think there was some unique menu items But then there was also menu items that we would. normally know there was scallop potatoes and lo main noodles and stuff like that. So definitely would recommend this place. Mm-hmm. We, went in just for the buffet and for the restaurant, which we were able to do. It did seem like it was a surprise to a lot of people because most people go for a tour around the land. Mm-hmm. And then they do the restaurant. But we just did the restaurant and it has a really beautiful overlook and it's a really cute spot. I would definitely recommend that place.

josh 23:56

Yeah. And pretty good deal on the food as well. Yeah. Um, wasn't overly expensive. All you can eat buffet soft serve ice cream. Uh, little dessert bar. Salad bar, A wide variety of different cuisines that you can have, including some traditional ones from New Zealand.

brit 24:13

Yeah. And the ice cream was a traditional ice cream. It was called Kawa, Kawa Soft Serve. And it was amazing.

josh 24:21

Yeah,

brit 24:22

it was a really good flavor. I can't really describe it. But it was almost like fruity,

josh 24:27

like a, like fruity, like nutty, I think Like somewhere in there.

brit 24:31

Yeah. Mm-hmm. Fruity, nutty.

josh 24:33

Yeah.

brit 24:33

Yeah. That's it. Almost like a like a blue moon a little bit I would say.

josh 24:37

Yeah.

brit 24:37

Yeah, I loved it. It was amazing. Highly recommend it.

josh 24:42

Yeah. Is that all the food we had there?

brit 24:44

I mean, the most notable places I think.

josh 24:47

So what did you, what would you rank then the food scene there in Rotorua?

brit 24:52

I would say it's higher than the last two places in my opinion.

josh 24:55

Really? Okay.

brit 24:56

I mean, with Eat Street there, there's a lot of options. And we didn't really venture out past Eat Street, but there's even more. Mm-hmm. Than we probably could.

josh 25:07

Oh, for sure. Yeah. Eat Street is such a small portion of Rotorua.

brit 25:12

Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I'd give it maybe a seven. It was pretty good.

josh 25:16

Yeah.

brit 25:16

I mean, not Italy or Japan. Good. But it was good. Yeah.

josh 25:22

Yeah. I think I'm gonna be a little tougher on it. I. I thought Eat Street was okay. I think maybe I'm bitter because the salad that I ordered, that Caesar salad just was a stinker. And I mean, some of the other dishes were really good, like the fish and chips, the burger.

brit 25:40

Yeah.

josh 25:41

I think the one that really makes it stands out is Okere Falls. That was really good. But that's out of Rotorua up, but we'll include it in, I'll probably give it a six.

brit 25:53

Yeah. Well, and I think for me, Pataka Kai, that one really stands out to me. Mm-hmm. Because it was I don't know, out of our norm

josh 26:03

Yeah.

brit 26:03

Of what we typically see and do so.

josh 26:07

Right. Yeah, no, I agree with that. I, I think I'll stick with a six, but I thought it was. I thought it was pretty decent food. Yeah. On par with this stuff so far. The one thing we didn't get throughout here, minus the smoked salmon on the open face, uh, eggs benedict with like salmon.

brit 26:27

This was, it was kind of like a foodie scene and I was wanting to be a foodie, you know?

josh 26:33

Yeah.

brit 26:33

And I didn't see a lot of salmon on the menus, and I don't know if it's the places that we went or mm-hmm. Um, if it's just not on the menus there or what, but we did order some seafood, like when we got the mussels.

josh 26:47

Mm-hmm.

brit 26:47

Those were really fresh and delicious.

josh 26:49

Yeah.

brit 26:50

So.

josh 26:50

Yeah, I, I'm gonna stick with six on it. I don't think I'm gonna change my mind in that one.

brit 26:54

Yeah. Not trying to make you

josh 26:56

No, no, that's fine.

brit 26:58

Um, As far as coffee goes, I will say that it is very repetitive, and I'm gonna say it in the next couple episodes as well, that it is just very milk heavy for the lattes that I ordered. However, lime Cafe mm-hmm. Had a great latte. I do think it was a little milk heavy and I should have ordered an extra shot, but the flavor of the espresso was delicious.

josh 27:25

Yeah.

brit 27:25

So,

josh 27:26

yeah, I'm not sure. If I got much coffee here, I don't think I got any, so I, I don't think I can submit a, submit a vote. Yeah. I, I think the sun was tearing me down and I was like, I don't need caffeine interrupting any sleep. So

brit 27:40

yeah, I'd give it maybe like a, a four or five.

josh 27:44

Yeah,

brit 27:44

it's still not the greatest. And still very milk heavy, but I got that one.

josh 27:49

Yeah,

brit 27:49

so it was good.

josh 27:50

Yeah, it, it's hard for some of these ratings'cause we only had two full days there as when we get three full days, we get a little better feeling of the place. We can spread ourselves out a little more, try a bunch of different things, but with two days it's a little more difficult. And it was a high tourism area and so a lot of stuff was catered to, just being quick, easy, available. Not like our last episode when we talked about Blenheim. If you didn't listen to that episode, go back and listen to it. Love Blenheim. But much different vibe from there.

brit 28:26

So yeah. Oh, for sure.

josh 28:28

But I will say access to nature on this one, again, it's a 10. You're mm-hmm. Immediately surrounded by hills, mountains, lots of greenery here though, you're not in a valley of vineyards and grapes and, green grass, it's tall, big green trees. Yes.

brit 28:50

You feel like you're in the middle of a forest.

josh 28:52

Mm-hmm.

brit 28:53

At one point I had looked at you and I'm like, are there monkeys here? A

josh 28:56

good environment for them. For sure.

brit 28:58

Yeah. I mean, it looked incredible. Just like out of this world, I never imagined myself in the middle of a fricking jungle.

josh 29:06

Mm-hmm.

brit 29:06

Zip lining over the trees. But there we were.

josh 29:09

There we were. And the lake right there, even though Rotorua is stinky mm-hmm. It smells like sulfur. People said, you get over it. But I feel like every morning we woke up and walked down and we're like, oh, yep, that's, there it is. That's sulfur.

brit 29:25

Yep.

josh 29:26

And our accommodation, if we didn't say it, Aura accommodation really nice and they had. AC units in each place. So maybe that's why it kind of filtered out the air, got the sulfur smell out of our noses, and then when we woke up we were just welcomed by it again.

brit 29:43

Yeah, Yeah.

josh 29:44

So yeah. 10 outta 10 for access to nature for me. What about you?

brit 29:48

Yeah. 10 out of 10.

josh 29:49

Mm-hmm.

brit 29:50

I loved it. Loved every second of the nature that we went into, and I really appreciated that there weren't a lot of bugs.

josh 29:59

Mm. Mm-hmm.

brit 30:00

There weren't a lot of spiders that I saw. There weren't, there were some mosquitoes and I did get some bug bites.

josh 30:07

Mm-hmm.

brit 30:08

But there just weren't a lot of, bugs flying around. Yeah.

josh 30:12

Or getting into, uh, the hotel room.

brit 30:15

Yeah,

josh 30:16

they, they had warned us about it, like close doors, quickly, you know, make sure windows and stuff are closed at night.'cause we get some, lake fly like bugs that can, be attracted to your lights and come in. But we never had any problem with those. we had bought a insect repellent, never even opened it. Didn't need it. And again, this was in the middle of their summer, so, maybe it was a low bug season, but we didn't have to deal with that. So that was very nice.

brit 30:42

Yeah. Now I really loved this hotel. I would highly recommend this hotel. Like it was great.

josh 30:47

Yeah. And the, the staff were super nice, super helpful. They have an entire, room that's constantly updated with local activities and where you should go, what you should eat, and they're very helpful. Like if you want someplace to eat,

brit 31:04

yeah.

josh 31:04

They can give you recommendations. They helped us figure out the Hell's Gate and just everything.

brit 31:10

Mm-hmm.

josh 31:11

So very nice staff.

brit 31:12

So nice.

josh 31:12

Mm-hmm.

brit 31:13

Yeah.

josh 31:14

I will say for like a walkability or transit score. It was easy for us to walk to each street'cause of where we were, but I feel like if you wanna do anything, you would for sure have to have a car.

brit 31:31

Yeah, I don't know what public transportation is like there. I did see some local like buses. Mm-hmm. Uh, at Metros. Mm-hmm. So I don't know what the situation is there. It didn't seem like there were a lot of them.

josh 31:45

Yeah.

brit 31:45

And if you wanna go out, out, I doubt they go out there.

josh 31:49

Yeah.

brit 31:50

Like out to the cafe that we went to. Mm-hmm. Doubt they go out there. Mm-hmm. yeah, I would give it a lower score. Mm-hmm. As well. Probably like a three.

josh 32:01

Yeah. Again, it's really hard. We were there for such a short amount of time, but yeah, probably at three it seems walkable from where we were, but it's kind of a spread out place. And then if you're especially doing other things, wanting to get out Rotorua little bit, maybe go to Hobbiton. We didn't do that, but that's nearby. You're probably gonna need a car.

brit 32:19

Yeah.

josh 32:20

Yeah.

brit 32:21

Ugh. Hobbiton would've been so fun. Next time you have no excuse. Next time we're going

josh 32:26

I, Hey. I would like to go. We just, we had so much stuff to do.

brit 32:30

I know. But next time we'll have less stuff to do'cause we would have already done it. But I do wanna go zorbing again. That was fun.

josh 32:37

I would go zorbing again that, that is something that's interesting. I was a little skeptical, of zorbing. I was like, I don't know how fun that's gonna be.'cause like you said, you're rolling down a hamster ball with water in it and it's pretty short. But then you get in it and it's really nice. Maybe not for people who are into the extreme roller coasters. but tho those days are done for me. So this was nice. It was very gentle.

brit 33:02

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I, I agree.

josh 33:05

this was another place too, where being a high tourism area, the like affordability, our United States dollar worth just kind of, it was a wash. Everything was slightly inflated'cause there were a lot of people. It's like a four or five. You're not going to get a ton out of your money coming here if you're from the United States.

brit 33:28

Yeah.

josh 33:29

Even though the conversion rate again was great when we went, the bang for your buck is just gonna be about the same where you're from in the United States, I think.

brit 33:38

Yeah. Although I would say that. If you are in New Zealand and you're by a Kmart, go to Kmart because they have some really good deals.

josh 33:47

Mm-hmm.

brit 33:47

And, they have a lot of really cute clothes. And then they also had the most amazing flip flops, I brought them home and I love them.

josh 33:58

Mm-hmm.

brit 33:58

So go to Kmart. Our sister-in-law also told us to go to Kmart, and we went and she told me to get the flip flops, and I did. And they're great. They are. I understand it Now.

josh 34:10

I even got some myself I usually, am not a huge person to go into the, like, big box stores like that in a different place and buy something. But we went in there and the flip flops for men were a dollar 75 NZD. So I got a pair of men's flip flops for. 75 cents us or something like

brit 34:32

that. Yeah.

josh 34:33

And you know, they're just standard thong flip flops or whatever, so it just fit really easy in the bag. I'm like, why not 75 cents? I, I can stop walking in my bare feet through the hot blacktop to the pool and put these on right away.

brit 34:48

Yeah. I'm glad you got those.

josh 34:50

Yeah. So yeah, affordability, you know, they got some good stuff like that, it makes fairly affordable, but if you're going out to eat a lot of the activities, stuff like that, they're kind of what you would expect as far as pricing goes. So, probably like a four as far as rating for that for me.

brit 35:06

Yeah, I agree.

josh 35:07

Yeah. And then another place, just like, I think it's all throughout New Zealand and we won't go through. These probably again, until we do a whole review of New Zealand and we're just getting used to this scorecard thing. So it might be in the future. We wait till the end and we kinda give an overview out all of'em. The pace and work life balance that was in Rotorua seemed to be the same as it had been so far as our trip in New Zealand where things opened a little later and closed earlier.'cause we were still, you know, seven o'clock dinner and looking up like, oh, stuff's already closing. Yeah, in the middle of the weekend. On the weekend we got. We gotta find a place that's open a little later.'cause they were all closing down at like eight, nine o'clock.

brit 35:50

Yeah. I mean, places close really early there, which is really great for their workers. And I, I appreciate that. I think that as like a consumer can be frustrating, but also looking at it the other way around is really important. Because if we always, like if every single country did that and worked so hard like the US does and was open late every night and work their workers to death, no country would be that happy.

josh 36:24

Mm-hmm.

brit 36:25

Right. So it's those differences I think that really make a country great. Mm-hmm. Um, at least to me, like I think about it and I'm like, if we were to live there. That would be really amazing as a worker.

josh 36:39

Yeah.

brit 36:39

Like I wouldn't be pressured into staying until midnight to clean up shop, whereas here, I feel like that's what you get.

josh 36:48

Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of what you sign up for if you're, uh, in a customer service position here.

brit 36:53

Yeah.

josh 36:54

Yeah. Which is unfortunate, so I totally agree with you. It's much better for the people that live there.

brit 36:59

Yeah. I agree. Yep.

josh 37:01

But again, such a short amount of time there, so it's, it's really hard to rank these. We'll probably come back to everything at then when we do a review in New Zealand. Give it a, an overall score that's more comprehensive to the whole trip. Yeah.

brit 37:15

Yeah. I think that works.

josh 37:16

The big ones being food and coffee and walkability for an area and transit. And one thing we did. Kind of skip over is we did do a car rental to get to Rotorua.'cause we came from Blenheim, flew into Auckland and then rented a car and drove down to Rotorua. And it was a mostly smooth transition. It's always a little adjustment period when you first start driving on the other side of the road, other side of the car. We had to go through a couple of roundabouts and do U-turns and parking lots to get ourselves on track.

brit 37:56

That's okay though. I mean, we figured it out and I think it's important to mention that you were the driver and you did an amazing job, I don't know how you can just flip your brain to drive on the other side of the road and the other side of the car just like that. So it makes sense that it would need some, you know, adjusting. But you did a great job. So

josh 38:19

it was a great warmup for Ireland that we got coming up in, you know, 12 days.

brit 38:23

Yeah, for sure.

josh 38:24

But yeah, thank you. I, uh, you know, we, we've done it a few times now where we've gotten cars in other countries and

brit 38:31

we have a system.

josh 38:32

Yeah. We, we got a system worked out. We just start a mini series in our socials where we give tips. So it'll definitely be a tip in there eventually. But yeah, we've got it down where we both know what we need to do for both of us to feel safe and comfortable while we're driving in another country.

brit 38:48

Yeah.

josh 38:48

Mm-hmm. with the transit it was just something that we needed to do. There are airports around there, but I think it was just definitely more expensive to fly from Blenheim to Rotorua and then also get to all the things we wanted to do.

brit 39:04

Yeah. It definitely would've been more expensive.

josh 39:07

and so I think overall with this trip, we were definitely being tourists here. Everything was planned around these activities and stuff. Didn't get enough time there. But

brit 39:18

no, I would go back.

josh 39:20

I would go back, but I think it would still be just to have those experiences. I would definitely not live in Rotorua.

brit 39:31

No, I wouldn't either. I did not get the feeling there. And it sounds like you didn't either. No. Yeah. it really wasn't the smell for me. It was more of the vibes of being in the Wisconsin Dells.

josh 39:44

Yeah.

brit 39:45

And being from Wisconsin, like the Wisconsin Dells are where you go when you wanna have a fun water park day, you don't live there.

josh 39:53

Right.

brit 39:54

And if you do, I'm so sorry if you're listening to this and you gotta deal with all the tourists in the summer, like that must suck. So I can imagine that's what it's like living in Rotorua.

josh 40:04

Yeah, for sure. It's, it's a fun place to be. It, but it gets busy. I assume it gets overwhelming for locals. Uh, similar to Queenstown, like we talked about in that episode. Just a ton of tourists compared to the amount of locals that lived there. And then, there were plenty of people that we ran into on some of our experiences that were there on the holiday work visa. Yeah. So they were there working for like a year or two before they moved on to the next thing, or, uh, maybe ended up moving there. Who knows? But, it kind of seemed like that community, that environment, at least in the center of Rotorua where we were, maybe it's different on the outskirts, which we didn't just get time to explore it all. But yeah, so that, that. It's a quick, easy conversation on, on Rototrua would go back to have some of those adventures, like Zorbing again, maybe the extreme zip lining.

brit 40:59

Yeah. It was fun. And I would do the long zip line tour.

josh 41:04

Mm-hmm.

brit 41:05

Or if you call it a tour, I don't know the long zip Zipline.

josh 41:08

Experience.

brit 41:09

Experience. Yeah. Thank you. Um, So I would try that out. I would go zorbing again, maybe go do one of those cultural experiences. There's a lot that we didn't do that I would love to do.

josh 41:23

Mm-hmm. But

brit 41:25

I would not live there. No.

josh 41:27

Yeah. Totally agree. Would go back to see the things we didn't see. Like the cultural experience, like you said, Hobbiton. Those kinds of things.

brit 41:34

We gotta go do that.

josh 41:35

it would be nice to do it with a camper van or like a small RV for the two of us where we explore the entire north island.

brit 41:46

Yeah.

josh 41:47

And you know, we can stop along those experiences and do those along the way.

brit 41:52

Oh, I would wanna go to the south island.

josh 41:54

Yeah. I'm just saying because this Rotorua is in the north island.

brit 41:57

Yeah. But I think we would do both.

josh 41:59

Oh, for sure. We would do

brit 42:00

both. Okay.

josh 42:00

Yeah. Yep.

brit 42:01

Just making sure we're on the same page with that.

josh 42:03

No, for sure. We would do both because, uh, as you'll see in our next episode, we were really excited to be, in Auckland.

brit 42:11

Oh, we were so excited. I didn't recognize that I would be that excited. Oh, you'll, you'll hear about it next episode. Little teaser.

josh 42:19

Yeah. That was pretty good. Getting good at this. we need more time in the North Island for sure. Mm-hmm. To go back and explore there. And definitely some time in and around Rotorua to have those experiences. Yeah.

brit 42:37

I agree. so like we said, next week is going to be about Auckland and that was our last stop in New Zealand. Don't forget to follow, like, and subscribe on all of our socials on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, as well as looking at our website where we have all of our recommendations from countries and cities that we've visited. That is wsm h travels.com.

josh 43:03

You can listen to us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify at Wsm H Travels. We also have the podcast on YouTube where you can see our video record version that has pictures and videos from our trip, which is also at WSMH travels.

brit 43:19

Thank you so much for listening. Until next time.