Rainbow Springs is a popular nature park/theme park next to the Skyline Gondola terminal just north of Rotorua. The park’s highlights include native New Zealand wildlife including kiwi and tuatara, a trout enclosure including an underwater viewing area and an enormous eel that has lived at Rainbow Springs Nature Park for more than 60 years.
You can feed many of the animals, including the trout, and there is also a water ride (The Big Splash) that operates between 9.30am and 5pm daily.
The park is open late, which means that you can visit during the day and then come back after dark to see the kiwi in the natural (nocturnal) habitat.