More Notes From Stinky Town

Lakes, Māori Art, and Toasted Sandwiches.

Good morning, folks. Another wee note from a chilly Rotorua morning that looks much clearer than yesterday. As I write, the pink glow in the east is slowly growing, and soon, the palest of blue skies should become a bit more royal.

A couple of people mentioned yesterday that I should take a break and not be writing, but rest assured, this is no trouble. It’s just like keeping a diary, with no need to scout around for a subject or do background reading. It’s all good - but thanks. 🙂

The Best Toasted Sandwich in Aotearoa

For those who don’t know the area, if you round the southern shore, pass the airport, and continue beyond the Ohau Channel, which connects Lake Rotorua to Lake Rotiti, you’ll get to the Okere Falls Cafe and Food Store, which has developed a reputation with its beer garden, live music, and toasted sandwiches.

You might possibly have seen an article about New Zealand’s Top Toasted Sandwich for 2024 a few weeks back.

Photo: https://www.toastietakeover.com/

Despite driving by a lot, I’d never been there - it’s a bit close to town for a stop on a road trip and a bit far for popping to a local cafe, but we weren’t short on time.

Fi was keen, so we headed out in search of the prize-winning ‘Figgy In The Middle’, described below, the first prize winner having beaten 169 other entries…

…with its innovative combination of dill pickle cheesecake whip, Swiss cheese, sliced figs, Vandy’s streaky bacon, toasted walnuts, rocket, McClure's pickles, blue cheese and a generous drizzle of chilli honey. 

Sandwiched between golden toasted and buttered spelt sourdough from local bakers Pantry D’or and topped with copious amounts of grated parmesan, the judges described the winning entry as “a generous portion of creatively concocted deliciousness” and a “one-way ticket to taste-ville”. 

Did it live up to the hype? It sure did. It was delicious, as was their coffee. It was rich and far too large to eat in one go. I took half for later.

I asked Fi if she’d like to carry on over to the coast to Maketu, head round the lake to Hamurana Springs or out to the lakes. The suggestion that we might see some pre-European art made option three the winner.

Lakes, lakes, and more lakes

Some people feel a real connection with the sea. Looking out at the ocean is soothing and almost spiritual. Having grown up far from the coast, I feel the same about the lakes and bush around Rotorua. First stop: Lake Okareka.

When I was much smaller, my family lived at Lake Okareka. My mother always reminds me, “This is where you walked into the lake when you were a little chap—and kept on walking. You would have gone under if I hadn't been watching you nearby!”

Apparently, keeping an eye on toddlers near water wasn’t so fashionable back in the 70s, before we all became so woke. Still, I got lucky and survived.

My mother will read that and be mortified, so I should just say - I am kidding, Mum.

Fi had been there before, the first time I took her to meet my older kids, Alex and Emma, in 1996. I’d taken her there, and a shivering post-swim Emma, who had just turned four, snuggled with her - I’m not sure who won who over. Alex, who was 6, was reserving judgment on the new arrival.

I have a great fondness for that place, recalling happy end-of-year school trips and family picnics. Our next stop was the Blue Lake, our version of going to the beach when I grew up. Some of you might remember the slide that stood in the water, so incredibly steep—at least it appeared that way at the time—long gone now.

Work crews cleared slips on the way to the Green Lake, which is tapu or sacred; nobody goes in it. We passed a Māori protest group with Tino Rangatiratanga flags; I wasn’t sure what they were protesting, perhaps land or development. There wasn’t anywhere to stop, and the road was down to one lane. I’d love to have heard about it.

We stopped at the Buried Village, but it was closed. Fi is interested in pre-colonial times, and history in general—we are well suited in that and so many other regards. I am a very lucky man and was grateful she had come for the trip; I wouldn’t have been driving around the lakes on my own.

Tarawera and Māori art

I knew there were very old Māori paintings on a rock wall in the area, but I couldn’t remember where. I remembered it was somewhere around the Western shore, and we drove right around that side of the lake until we reached the end of the road, a snooty-looking resort with large electronic gates that clearly wasn’t welcoming visitors.

Back at the boat ramp, I had a sense of where the paintings were, although there were no signposts suggesting they existed or any sign of them on the tourist map in the car park.

Lake Tarawera, looking across to the mountain.

It didn’t look promising, there was a plastic sign where a walkway began asking people not to enter the area due to flooding, but it looked like it had been there a very long time. Of course, we wanted to respect any restrictions, but the path wasn’t especially wet, so we just walked in a bit. Rest assured, we would've turned back if the restriction had been for something other than recent weather.

In my memory, I could see the paintings and remember walking along the shore back to the car park with my uncle after seeing them. I’ve mentioned that in a newsletter; some of you might remember where Ian had told me I was too cynical:

I'm not a cynic.

I recognised the site not so far along the path, perhaps a couple hundred metres. The metal bars to stop people getting too close and stairs down to below ground level, which looked like they didn’t get much use. Fi was delighted, and I was relieved having told her about them and thought we wouldn’t find them.

There doesn’t seem to be much information about the paintings. Even the sign they once stood at the site (referred to below) had been removed, leaving just the carved frame that would’ve contained it.

Fi did find this information online:

There are two walks from the landing; the walk to the right takes you to the place where Green Lake flows into Lake Tarawera. The walk to the left takes you to Maori Rock paintings. The sign by the Tuhourangi iwi is very faded, but this is what it says:

The rock art was restored by archaeologist Trevor Hoskings. In 2009 Trevor Hosking, of Taupō, received the Queen’s Service Medal for services to the conservation of historic places.  Mr Hosking had been actively involved in the restoration and protection of historic places in the Taupō area for more than 50 years. 

There is more to write about, but that feels like a good place to leave it this morning. I did see my friend Keith for a couple of hours yesterday afternoon and will be seeing him again this morning, but that is a heavier piece than I want to do right now.

Looks like a cracking day here. I hope it’s good where you are. Have a good one, all you lovely people. 🙂

I got all the way through that without a tear, right up until I listened to this… another George Harrison classic - Here Comes the Sun.