Venture offers garden walks

The trio behind the new Rotorua Walking Tours (from left) Roger Martin, Vivien Cooper and Heather Vail. BEN FRASER

Three locals passionate about Rotorua are offering visitors an insider's view of the city - and they want other residents to be involved.

Vivien Cooper, Roger Martin and Heather Vail have set up Rotorua Walking Tours which will offer free guided tours of the Government Gardens. The walk, planned to start operating next month, will start at the Rotorua Visitor Centre & i-SITE on Fenton St and will finish at the Rotorua Museum.

"This is an opportunity for people to experience what this gem of a place is made of, it really is fascinating to learn what happened and who did what to make Rotorua what it is today. A lot of people have no idea," said Mrs Cooper, co-owner of B&B@The Redwoods.

"Every big city has a walking tour and for Rotorua it's about time."

The tours will run for an hour and be held twice a day.

Mr Martin, who runs Happy Ewe Cycle Tours, researched the history which will be retold on the tour, referencing the archives of the late Rotorua historian Don Stafford.

"Promoting Rotorua is part of the 'grow Rotorua' theme the city council and tourism operators are advocating, which the new Rotorua Walking Tours definitely upholds," Mr Martin said.

The trio are looking for like-minded locals to join them and volunteer to guide the tours. "There's so much to see and there's so many stories to tell. We also want to empower local residents to do this and tell the stories from their own perspective," Mrs Cooper said. "This is an opportunity for people to experience what this gem of a place is made of, it really is fascinating to learn what happened and who did what to make Rotorua what it is today. A lot of people have no idea."

Ms Vail, who is a writer and works at Waiariki Institute of Technology, said the tours offered a personal touch for visitors. "In this day and age, everything is digital so the personal touch means so much. It's wonderful to be able to touch and see in this place."

• An open information session about the initiative will be held on Saturday at 10am at the BNZ Business Centre on Amahou St, next to the Rotorua Central Mall.