Wai-O-Tapu, Te Rā at Te Puia and a Haka in the Carved Meeting House

Both halves of what Rotorua sells, in one day from Auckland: the geothermal field in the morning, the culture in the afternoon. Wai-O-Tapu opens it. The Champagne Pool with its orange and green rim, the Artist's Palette beside it, mud pools at the boil, fumaroles, sinter terraces. Boards along the tracks explain what the volcano underneath is doing. After lunch in Rotorua, Te Puia. The Te Rā guided experience runs ninety minutes through Te Whakarewarewa Geothermal Valley, past Pōhutu, the largest active geyser in the Southern Hemisphere, and into the Kiwi Conservation Centre. At the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute, carving and weaving are taught rather than displayed. The cultural performance happens inside Te Aronui a Rua, the carved meeting house. It runs through a pōhiri, the formal welcome, then waiata, mōteatea, poi and the haka. The drive is three and a half hours each way, which is what a day trip to Rotorua from Auckland costs in time. Cancel at least 24 hours before departure for a full refund.