Fueled by a quick-lunch, my friends and I left the mansion and headed to one of Rotorua’s most spectacular natural assets.Welcome to the Rotorua Redwoods!

The place reminded me of the Calaveras Big Trees State Park which I visited in California last year.

Yey, toilets!

THE TREEWALK

A famous feature of the forest is the Redwoods TreeWalk. It’s a suspended walkway made of 23 bridges hanging on 22 redwood trees.

The walk, which takes about 30 minutes, teaches the history of the trees and gives visitors a unique, birds-eye view of the sprawling forest. This is a paid attraction.

POHATUROA TRACK

The forest is well-known not only for its Californian Coast Redwoods, but for the well-organized mountain biking and walking tracks.

You can choose a trail according to your own fitness. Along the paths are color-coded arrows for you to easily follow. You won’t get lost!

We did one of the free hiking trails that suited our condition and mood that day. The Pohaturoa Track is one of the easiest route but it’s not devoid of beautiful sceneries.City view from the top!

The view of shooting geysers and steaming pools all around the city was breathtaking!

It’s a thermal wonderland!

When I was young, we spent our summers hiking mountains in the Northern Philippines. But those hikes weren’t hobby-related. They were real hikes, path or no path, rain or shine, through slippery mud or hard rocks, with shoes or barefoot and carrying big backpacks or sacks of food, rice and teaching materials.

Ahh I miss my childhood!

The towering trees and the smell of fresh forest air reminds me a lot of my younger days and where I came from.

We ended our hike by replenishing the calories we lost. Haha.

Big thanks Shellah and ate Maeh for the fun ice-cold-sweaty day!