Rotorua rocks on to international map

By Mark Wallace
Rotary Club of Crows Nest, NSW
Associate Editor, Rotary Down Under

Rotorua joined the international jetset when an Air New Zealand A320 touched down on December 12 to complete the first international flight into the city.

Rotorua Mayor Kevin Winters led a jetful of dignitaries from the local Maori elders, Air New Zealand executives, the Mayor of Lake Macquarie, NSW (Rotorua’s sister city), journalists and travel industry officials as well as Australian tourists and kiwi locals down the stairway and on to the tarmac where a traditional Maori welcome was waiting to greet them.

And there amongs them all were several Rotarians from the Rotary Club of Rotorua Sunrise, who were all instrumental in bringing this long-held dream to fruition.

Former Rotorua Mayor Graham Hall told Rotary Down Under that moves to make Rotorua and international flight destination began in the 1950s. It wasn’t until this year that the decision by Air New Zealand was made. Local travel agent Graham Winter identified the opportunity his club had to leverage the event as a publicity generator, and club colleague Don Gunn, of Destination Rotorua Tourism ensured that journalists from the Australian national media found seats on the plane.

Over the next four days he put them through their paces, challenging them with sea planes flights, lake cruises, cultural lessons and demonstrations, physical challenges, spa treatments, washed down with the finest of New Zealand wines and food. And when it came to accommodation, could it ever get any better than Kawaha Point Lodge, on the banks of Lake Rotorua. Clearly this was a dirty job, but your correspondent reluctantly took it on!

President of the Rotary Club of Rotorua Sunrise, Monty Morrison, was another First Flight passenger who assisted with interpretations of the Maori welcoming ceremonies, explained how important it was for the Rotorua tourist market to be opened up to direct flights from Australia.

“We’ve been in the shadows a bit because people didn’t want to fly into Auckland and then have to drive three hours in a bus or car to get here,” President Monty said.

“So they’ve tended to go to places like Queenstown.

“We’re particularly keen to get more Australians here. We’ve got a lot to show apart from the traiditonal features like the geysers and the Maori culture.

“We’ve got all the adventure attractions like white water rafting, bungee jumping and jet boats, but we also got some of the the best mountain bike tracks in the world, top class trout fishing, and there’s about 20 top golf courses within an hour or so of the CBD.”

If there are any doubts about how important the twice weekly flights from Sydney are, it should be remembered that direct flights to Queenstown are still only 10 years old.