Local Attractions not to be overlooked
The great thing about living in Rotorua is everything is such a short drive away and the Bay of Plenty Region is full of amazing things to see and do. After settling down to work, I took a couple of weekends to drive around and check out some of the close by local attractions, the first 2 I am going to highlight are Okere Falls and Kerosene Creek.
Okere Falls
Okere Falls is a small town located 21 km from Rotorua on SH 33 between Rotorua and Tauranga on the North Island of New Zealand. The town is situated on the shore of the Okere Inlet of Lake Rotoiti, from which the Kaituna River flows north towards the Bay of Plenty Wikipedia
As Wikipedia tells us, Okere Falls is the name of a region and it is actually the Kaituna River where all the action happens. Now while you can get your adventure tourism on here and attempt to Kayak down this river, you can conversely choose the more common route and just walk the trail that goes along side the river and is quite a nice walk along a well laid out and easy to traverse track with some great photo ops along the way.
It is very easy to access by car and there is a parking lot at both ends of the trail meaning those who are feeling extra lazy or maybe those who are older or disabled etc can still get a good view of this beautiful river that is strangely nestled and almost hidden between farm and forestry country.
Vehicle access and carpark. Toilets. Easy walking track with some stepper side tracks to get closer to the river.
Kerosene Creek
Natural hot-springs area with a waterfall, surrounded by dense forest & primitive trails. Wikipedia
A favorite for locals, Kerosene creek spreads over about 50m of river where you can comfortably find a place to swim and bathe in what is basically a heated geothermic river. Being a favourite by locals means that it is often very busy down here even if it is a bit colder thanks to the warm water.
The access road is unfortunately horrendously bad, gravel road with pot holes all along it making what should be a short drive take 5 times as long. Find someone with a 4WD to make it a more comfortable drive, otherwise if you have a town car, you will be wanting to take it very slowly along these roads or RIP your shocks.
The trail from the carpark to the river is a short walk that most people can easily navigate and the small water fall empties into a decent sized swimming hole.
Note: I would have more photos of Kerosene Creek but it really was that busy it was hard enough getting the single pic without people in it, at some point I will update this blog with some more pics of the area.
Vehicle access (terrible access road) and carpark. Easy walking track. Often very busy.
Marcus Powell has been living and working in South Korea since 2010. He has now returned back to NZ and works for Digital Natives Academy as the lead education program designer. Aside from writing his own blog, he is also a popular Club DJ, Gamer, Community manager, esports fan and anime enthusiast.
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