Home»Photo Galleries»New Zealand»New Zealand 2013»Lake Okataina

We began our stay in New Zealand in Auckland, the country’s largest city. After getting oriented and supplied, and making a very nice day trip to Tiritiri Matangi Island, we started our journey through the North Island. Initially, we intended to spend our first few days in Rotorua, one of the primary tourist destinations in New Zealand. Rather than stay in the center of this very popular area, we decided to book a lodge room at Lake Okataina, located about 30 km outside Rotorua.

Lake Okataina takes its name from the story of Te Rangitakaroro, the famous chief of a pa (Maori village or fort) on the shores of the lake, who was said to be sitting on a rock when one of his men told a joke that made him laugh deeply. The rock on which he was sitting (which is now submerged) was named ‘the place of laughter’, and later the name was transferred to the lake, which was known as Te Moana I kataina-a-Rangitakaroro (the sea where Te Rangi-takaroro laughed). Although the joke has long been forgotten, the laughter remains enshrined in the name Okataina, which means ‘the place of laughter’.

While at Lake Okataina we visited Rotorua twice, once to see the excellent museum, with its very informative exhibit on local Maori history and culture, and once to attend Te Matatini Kapa Haka, the national competition for Maori performance groups, showcasing entry rituals, action songs, Poi (balls), Haka, and exit rituals. We also completed two wonderful walks near Lake Okataina. For the first and longest of these walks we were kindly given a ride to the start of the trail for Tarawera Falls, a spectacular waterfall where water surges out of fissures in the ancient lava rock. From there, we completed a 20 km walk back to our lodge, following the river through native bush to Tarawera Lake and Humphries Bay, and then along to Otangimoana Bay and Lake Okataina. In addition, we spent a day taking several shorter walks, first to the Whakapoungakau Trig and then the Te Auheki track to the cascades, featuring hundreds of glow worms on the rock face. We ended our stay with a nice soak in the Waitangi Soda Springs (where we had our first encounter with sandflies at dusk). We completely missed the tourist areas of Rotorua, saving them for another time.