Whakarewarewa with the Iwi Who Guided the Pink and White Terraces

4 Salisbury Ave, Mount Maunganui

Walk north along the wharf from your gangway for 150 m, then out through the port customs gate. Twenty metres past it there is a grassy knoll with a flagpole. The guide waits there in a black polo shirt, with a sign showing your name.

Mt Maunganui Main Beach

A stop to talk about this stretch of coast, including Cook's arrival here in 1769.

Kiwifruit Country

The road crosses 25,000 acres of kiwifruit orchards around Te Puke, with a running account of how the fruit was developed here, how it is grown, and what it is worth to the local economy. The stop is at Kurt's 12-acre orchard, close enough to inspect the vines.

We head to Rotorua via a beautifully scenic route with…

The route to Rotorua comes down off the elevated central plateau, with native fauna of the region along it and the Pacific in view.

Whakarewarewa - The Living Maori Village

Entry is included to the geothermal village where local Māori still live. The cultural performance runs 40 minutes, given by the village troupe: music, dance, and a version of the haka that stays with people. The Tūhourangi Ngāti Wāhiao have been sharing their stories, song and dance for over a century. They are the iwi who guided visitors at the Pink and White Terraces, before the Mount Tarawera eruption buried them. A standing agreement with the iwi lets the group see the Pōhutu and Prince of Wales Feathers geysers, groundwater heated from below and thrown up. The other part is a 30-minute walk through the village's active geothermal wetland.

Lake Okareka Walkway

An elevated spot for photographs, with Lake Okareka and its lakefront houses in front and Mount Tarawera, dormant now, behind.

Polynesian Spa

Optional: a soak in the mineral water, or a mud massage, at a spa that exists nowhere else. The operator recommends it in winter, because most of the ten or so natural hot mineral pools sit at or near body temperature. It can replace the Whakarewarewa concert and geothermal walk at no extra cost.

Government Gardens

A stop at the gardens and the old Rotorua Bathhouse, which is worth the architecture on its own. The suggestion is to walk the 100 yards from one side of the gardens to the other and get picked up at the far end. Early summer is when the flowers are fully out.

Lake Rotorua

Lunch at one of three good cafés, one of which looks out over the lake and the large carved meeting house, the whare nui.

Costo extra

Tikitapu Nature Walk

A good example of New Zealand native forest: tall podocarps and dozens of fern varieties, tree ferns included. Nothing in it bites or stings, so the walk needs no caution beyond the usual. There is the option of a 300 m hike further in. Past clients rate this stop highly.

Lake Tikitapu (Blue lake)

Lake Tikitapu, the Blue lake, and Lake Rotokakahi, the Green one, sit side by side in native forest. The Blue lake is open to everyone and gets used for swimming, boating and barbecues; the Green lake is tapu, forbidden, after a historical conflict between local tribes. The lookout between the two is the panoramic photograph.

Mt. Tarawera

A lookout over the lake with Mount Tarawera on the far side, and the history of the 1886 eruption that buried the Pink and White Terraces, then the biggest tourist attraction in the country, along with the village below them. The mountain and the lake together shaped the region's history and its shape on the map. This lookout is dropped if the ship's departure leaves no time for it.

Okere Falls

The last stop, if the clock allows, before the 50-minute drive back to the ship. Anyone fit enough goes down a 60-step walkway to stand a metre from a grade 4 river, the drain for Lake Rotorua and Lake Rotoiti on their way to the ocean 40 km off.