Buried Village of Te Wairoa, Rotorua

Nicely explained and presented museum. Cafe is good. Nice arrangements. Nature is very beautiful here. Excavation work is also great. You are taken back to 1886 when volcano eruption buried the village and surrounding. Sorry we'll said. Must visit. Allow atleast 3 hours to thoroughly see the museum and surroundings.

It was interesting walking around, especially reading the recounts of the eruption of the volcano. Apparently the lava shot up straight into the sky 1000s of feet high from three different points. My favourite part though was seeing these trees that grew from fence posts after the ash and mud buried them!!! There was about 30-40 trees that grew from FENCE POSTS! They recently cut them all down though after a couple of the trees fell. There were also these two trees planted next to this gorgeous creek that were planted by these brother before they went to war. Only one brother came home. The other has passed down the land to his family and the three generations have been doing the excavating. Part of the self guided tour included a walking track to see a waterfall. The walk along the creek was gorgeous in itself, it was so clear and inviting that we were tempted to get in. Then we saw the waterfall! It was huge and the force and noise coming from it was incredible.

A great find, we heard about the place as we were finishing our time in Rotorua and decided to drive out. We joined the next available guided tour (although you could go around yourself). Very informative and interesting. The pink and white terraces would have been amazing to see. Shocking to see the destruction of the volcano eruption.

Great day out, so interesting and tour guide was very good. Relaxing and informative for all the family. Beautiful walk with plant information on route. Lovely café with good food selection and friendly staff, a gift shop and period dress photo opportunity.

Lots of info about the 1866 eruption and the dramatic events for the occupants of the town. All very informative. However, there are no examples of geothermal activity in the park, although the waterfall is quite spectacular.