Show us your neck of the woods

[murph_fan51]

Ngongotaha?

Really weird guess given no sign of the lake in the photo. Coincidentally I was there to see a rock/metal concert on Sat night:

Haha. That sign looks bad, almost like DEKA in Huntly.
I actually got engaged on Mt Ngongataha in 2016

[Bloopy]

Well the lava that formed the mountain may have cooled off but there's still a fire in the heart.

[Trevor]

Haha. That sign looks bad, almost like DEKA in Huntly.

Hahaha, funny you mention DEKA, the company I worked for was a heavy vehicle driver training company called DECA (Driver Education Centre of Australia), they had to change their name when they went into NZ to DECA Training so as to not confuse with the chain of stores called DEKA, I have actually been into the DEKA in Rotorua. They went into Ngongotaha because of the amount of logging trucks there, they reckon it was the best place to put themselves.  I employed all their trainers.  Then the Japanese economy collapsed in the '90's and weren't buying timber so the whole outfit fell on its arse - they spent hundreds of thousands setting it up, buying logging trailer, sending truck over there etc

[djr18fan]

Rotorua. a.k.a. RotoVegas

Born here and home for 50 of my 59 years.

The (now) famous Mount Ngongotaha in the top left. The island in the middle is a plug of cooled magma.

Lake Rotorua is surrounded by hills that are the rim of a caldera. A volcano that erupted about 220,000 years ago. The city sits inside the rim and enjoys a sulphur smell the locals rarely notice, steam oozing from the ground in various spots. Small earthquakes (they say the earths crust is too thin & soft here for pressure to build so we consider ourselves lucky that pressure is released through small earthquakes rather than large. But I think Christchurch thought they were safe from a big one.) But it's all good because we've got no snakes or animals trying to kill us!

NZ's most popular tourist destination with around 3.5 million visitors a year (pop. 70,000). Plenty of hotels & restaurants etc. 3 hotels currently being used as isolation (that's iso for your Aussies!) facilities for arrivals to the country. The attractions are geothermal (geysers etc), Maori culture, lakes, mountain biking & a lot of other man made activities designed to extract the tourist $.
When covid hit we thought the city would be stuffed without international visitors who make up about half the 3.5m. But it turns out that when Kiwi's can't fly - they drive to Rotorua for breaks. So it's going quite well.


Part of the city, taken from the south looking north. Apologies for the image size. I think it might be quite large.






Lake Tarawera, one of my favourite lakes for boating and trout fishing. A 20 minute drive away. Mount Tarawera erupted big time in 1886 killing over a hundred that lived nearby. In one part (imaginatively named hot water beach in true NZ style) you can catch a trout on one side of the boat and cook it on the other in very hot water emerging from the shore.



I get my summer motorsport fix at Paradise Valley Speedway on the edge of town.



Everyone's here to see Superstocks. A full contact class where the aim is just as much to finish first as it is to stop others finishing first. The local team (who last year changed their flag from the confederate flag to a new home grown design) were crowned team champions at the last Palmerston North teams champs. An event rated more highly than the NZ teams champs. Teams racing is considered the pinnacle of stockcar racing and is something to behold.



An hour or so north to beautiful Pacific Ocean beaches. No Crocs or stingers. Maybe a few sharks.



2 hours south to Ski Fields on an active volcano
it usually looks like this.



Occasionally it looks like this

[Bloopy]

I've only been up Mount Tarawera twice, but it's probably my 2nd favourite place in the world. Descending into the crater is like stepping onto another planet and the loose scree makes it a lot of fun.

To be a bit of a cliche, 1st is Milford Sound and I've only been there once. It's further from civilisation, and something carved out by glaciers just seems cooler, somehow...

[Trevor]

Hey @djr18fan, do you remember the red & white with a black stripe DECA trucks getting around Ngongotaha & Rotorua?

This is me in front of one of their Freightliner fuel tankers here, but the colour scheme was the same over there, but with logging trailers

[djr18fan]

Hey @djr18fan, do you remember the red & white with a black stripe DECA trucks getting around Ngongotaha & Rotorua?

This is me in front of one of their Freightliner fuel tankers here, but the colour scheme was the same over there, but with logging trailers

I vaguely recall hearing some advertising for or hearing about a truck driver training organisation in these parts. I don't recognise the name or colours. My brother-in-law may. He lived here then and was a truckie. Now in Brisbane working for Sims Metal after quite a few years driving around Australia.

[murph_fan51]

Great post djr18…
Rotovegas is such a cool place. We head there every year for a short holiday. Have always stayed at the Rydges but is it a MIQ place now? Been to most of the thermal parks around the area - Te Puia and Waimungu Volcanic Valley were my favourite.

I find it funny, there’s a house at an intersection on Lake Road that has their fence steaming every time I drive past, and part of the fence is charred 

I was very lucky as a kid my parents took me up Mt Tarawera and much like Bloops slid down into the crater, this was before it was guided tours only.

[djr18fan]

Great post djr18…
Rotovegas is such a cool place. We head there every year for a short holiday. Have always stayed at the Rydges but is it a MIQ place now? Been to most of the thermal parks around the area - Te Puia and Waimungu Volcanic Valley were my favourite.

I find it funny, there’s a house at an intersection on Lake Road that has their fence steaming every time I drive past, and part of the fence is charred 

I was very lucky as a kid my parents took me up Mt Tarawera and much like Bloops slid down into the crater, this was before it was guided tours only.

Yep. Rydges is off limits. I did Mt Tarawera a few times too. Another tricky one is Mt Edgecumbe which has a lot of loose scoria on the outside. Bloody hard to climb up.

For those that have been here before, we are spending $40m revamping the lake front area. $20m of that is a pre-last election bribe from the government and $20m courtesy of local ratepayers. A lake edge boardwalk has just been opened. It's actually quite nice and I see potential. A young kid has laready fallen off into the lake. https://www.rotoruanz.com/zh-cn/stories-articles/lakefront-selfies-could-win-you-prezzies

The most photographed building in NZ, the bath house in the government gardens sometimes referred to as the Rotorua museum is still fenced off with earthquake strengthening work going on. The blue baths building has recently been closed due to earthquake risk. The performaing arts centre is still undergoing earthquake strengthening and upgrading. There's a fair bit going on!

Even the Ngongotaha roundbout is getting an upgrade!

[AlbertM]

Very nice djr18fan.

[mikeamerica84]

Thanks for that SUPERB tour of your part of NZ, djr!  I fell like I just had a five minute vacation.  Love the boats on the lake.  Are they amphi-craft a la WWII?  Over here in Wisconsin Dells they use the ducks of the sort for tourist rides.  Nothing like making a plunge into a river with one of those.

And thanks for showing my what it is like filling up on the road, Trev!

All good stuff, guys.  All good stuff.  Thanks!

[djr18fan]

Thanks for that SUPERB tour of your part of NZ, djr!  I fell like I just had a five minute vacation.  Love the boats on the lake.  Are they amphi-craft a la WWII?  Over here in Wisconsin Dells they use the ducks of the sort for tourist rides.  Nothing like making a plunge into a river with one of those.

And thanks for showing my what it is like filling up on the road, Trev!

All good stuff, guys.  All good stuff.  Thanks!

Yes they are WW2 relics

[Bloopy]

Great local music club here in Porirua. Last year I went to a bit of socially distanced seated live music at Wellington bars during 'level 2' but it hasn't appealed to me yet this time around. Nice to have the alternative of private clubs/functions where the seated rule doesn't apply.



Wellington city last week:



Checked out where the eels hang out around here today, just for somewhere to walk to: