From the enchanting Lake Rotorua, we walked all the way to the Rotorua Museum where spring has sprung.

Te Whare Taonga o Te Arawa

The view of the huge green lawn and the flowery garden leading to the timber-framed museum was spectacular!

Sadly, the museum is closed for earthquake strengthening.

“A comprehensive assessment of Rotorua Museum has shown it falls well below earthquake safety standards and will need to remain closed for the foreseeable future. The good news is that it can be fixed….”

A building with a fascinating and sometimes bizarre past, the iconic Bath House, which today houses Rotorua Museum, is New Zealand’s most photographed building.

The Bath House was once a famous spa which offered therapeutic treatments to visitors from all over the world. Water from nearby thermal springs was piped to private bathrooms and larger Aix-douche massage rooms.

There were also a number of deep pools where chronic disorders were treated. The north wing accommodated male patients, while women were treated in the south wing. At its height, the spa gave 60,000 to 80,000 baths annually and about 30,000 special treatments.

There is little left of the once state-of-the-art spa treatment equipment; most was destroyed when the baths closed in 1966.

The magnificent Elizabethan-style building is a monument to the New Zealand Government’s first major investment in the tourism industry.

Even if I couldn’t go inside the building, the structure and gardens around it was worth the walk.

The doors may be closed but the museum still offers outside-the-wall guided tours for free. Learn about the history of battles, buildings and the Government Gardens of Rotorua.

For schedules and more information, visit http://www.rotoruamuseum.co.nz/.

Italicized text taken from the museum’s website.