Today we continue a month-by-month feature looking at the stories that shaped Rotorua during 2011
April 4
Western Heights High School student Nigel Baker is a changed teenager.
He is fitter, stronger, more disciplined and not so opposed to taking on a leadership role after taking part in Rotorua's first Cactus programme.
Nigel said he had learnt a lot during the programme and the biggest lesson for him was that if he wanted something he had to work hard for it.
The 16-year-old is among 24 Western Heights High School students who have just completed the eight-week programme which is aimed at challenging behaviour through a disciplined and regimented training programme based on a military bootcamp.
Nigel said he decided to do the programme after being approached by a teacher.
"He said it would be a great way of getting fit. That's the main reason I did it."
The Year 12 student said as a result of doing the course he now "thought about things a lot more".
April 5
Rotorua teenager Wiremu Ropata crawled through thick smoke to drag a young boy from a fatal house fire in Clayton Rd, saving his life.
The 18-year-old and his brother Henare Ropata, 22, also ripped windows from their hinges in an unsuccessful attempt to save a woman who was killed in the blaze.
Now, the Fire Service has said it is considering rewarding the Rotorua brothers for bravery.
The woman who died, and her family, had moved into the property only on Saturday. The home is extensively smoke and fire-damaged.
The Fire Service said early indications were the woman was smoking in bed when the fire started.
Wiremu was watching a movie early yesterday when he said he heard young girls screaming on the street outside.
Looking outside, he saw flames coming from the house across the street.
April 9
A group of Te Arawa men are about to embark on an amazing voyage that will see them brave the unpredictable oceans of the South Pacific in traditional canoes, navigating by the stars.
More than 100 people on board seven ocean-going waka are sailing from Auckland to San Diego on a seven-month trip to reconnect with their past and raise awareness about the state of the oceans.
Five Te Arawa men will be on the journey, leaving for their trip of a lifetime from Auckland on Wednesday.
Pererika Makiha, Nicholas Kaipara-Marr, Patrick Mohi, Kaipara Marr, 18 and Te Miroa Maxwell, 17, will be kaumoana (crew) on two of the seven waka making the trip.
They will sail from Auckland to San Diego, visiting a number of Pacific Islands on the way, and come home for a break in September and re-join the journey in San Diego in late January next year for the return leg.
The Pacific Voyagers will be sailing in traditionally built waka hourua (voyaging canoes), apart from the hull, which is made of fibreglass. They have no running water or fossil fuel-burning engines, apart from natural gas which is used for cooking. Solar power is used for energy and the crew navigate by the stars.
April 15
British police are investigating how historic artefacts gifted from New Zealand, including a carving by Te Arawa hapu Ngati Tarawhai of a pare, or lintel, were put up for sale when they should have been in the care of a museum.
Another carving - a pou pou - believed to have been carved by either Ngai Tarawhai (Lake Okataina) or Ngati Pikiao was nearly sold but was hastily returned to the new British Empire and Commonwealth Museum (BCEM) in Bristol, west of London.
Rotorua Deputy Mayor Trevor Maxwell said he was disappointed to hear the pare had been sold.
"Any taonga that goes missing that comes from our region is a concern for us. "The tribe it belongs to would be even more hurt and concerned that something might be gone forever," Mr Maxwell said.
"To lose something like that, it's like a part of history gone."
April 16
When Rotorua's Mark Paterson saw the first baby tuatara being hatched at Rainbow Springs he was "bouncing".
"I was buzzing. I was absolutely stoked."
Rainbow Springs staff have welcomed 11 baby tuatara to its fold. It is Rainbow Springs' first hatch of tuatara eggs and believed to be one of the largest clutches of eggs to successfully hatch in captivity in New Zealand.
It has been a labour of love for Mr Paterson, the park manager. He has spent just over six months monitoring the eggs and waiting for them to hatch. The eggs were kept in incubators in a natural mineral Vermiculite which is able to provide a moist environment for the tuatara.
The babies' parents are 24-year-old Honey and 53-year-old Bugsy - two of five adult tuataras at the park.
April 20
Maori-owned land in Rotorua which was used as a base to deal methamphetamine could be confiscated by the Crown in a New Zealand first.
The Crown wants two adjoining properties on Ngongotaha Rd seized under the Criminal Proceedings Recovery Act after the occupant, 64-year-old Graeme Lewis Williams, pleaded guilty to the possession, supply and manufacture of methamphetamine (P).
The case has huge ramifications for Maori according to a lawyer representing Williams' estranged wife. The wife is fighting the forfeiture on the basis she is the only beneficiary and Williams was an occupant only, without any control over the land.
Martin Hine told The Daily Post the case had attracted a great deal of local and national interest.
April 28
Part of Rotorua's world-famous Pink and White Terraces can be seen again 125 years after their destruction in the 1886 Tarawera eruption.
However, the Pink Terraces, which are about to be revealed in Rotorua, are not those few remnants of the original formation recently rediscovered by scientists at the bottom of Lake Rotomahana.
This time, the location of the Pink Terraces is the Rotorua International Stadium, venue for the region's three Rugby World Cup matches later this year.
The stadium's concrete seating terraces opposite the main grandstand have been transformed by Rotorua artist Marc Spijkerbosch into a modernised version of the historic Pink Terraces to create a visual replica of what was in Victorian times considered the eighth wonder of the natural world.
Mr Spijkerbosch, who has won numerous art awards in New Zealand and overseas for his realistic works, used the trompe l'oeil (deceive the eye) painting style on the terraces, which is a technique involving realistic imagery to create a three-dimensional optical illusion.