Israel Adesanya, left, Robert 'Bom' Gillies and Liam Messam have been inducted to the Rotorua Boys' High School Hall of Fame.
The Rotorua Daily Post is looking back at the stories of 2023. Here’s what made headlines in October
October 6
Police were called after a man made a “phone threat” to bring a digger to a temporarily closed lake and remove boulders blocking jetty access so he could go fishing, an iwi leader says.
Police say they determined no threats were made during the call and that the caller was “expressing frustration” — “albeit quite colourfully” — and was now apologetic.
Tensions have been high in Rotorua after Biosecurity New Zealand closed Lake Ōkataina to boating and fishing throughout October, the start of the fishing season.
The closure, requested by local iwi, was to install protections to keep out invasive freshwater gold clams, first discovered in New Zealand in the Waikato River in May.
October 7
The left front indicator was next to her pillow, but when Renea Wharekura woke in “excruciating pain” with her nose bleeding, she had no idea a car had crashed into her bedroom, inches from her and her daughter.
“I think about it every day, how close it was.”
It has been four weeks since the car — driven by a teen drunk driver — smashed through three fences and a garage before crashing into the back of Wharekura’s Fordlands house.
The broken windows and walls of the home are boarded up, waiting on repairs, but two families still live there, sleeping in the third bedroom and lounge.
October 23
There’s nervousness, there’s uncertainty and there’s fear as you plummet suddenly without any way to get back up.
That is how thrill-seekers at Velocity Valley will feel when they take the plunge at Rotorua’s newest tourism offering this weekend.
It’s also how those in the industry felt during the past three years as they fought to keep Rotorua’s reputation as a world-class visitor destination alive.
But talk among operators is positive and the latest visitor spending figures show the city is weathering the storm.
October 24
Hundreds more children are expected in two Rotorua suburbs as social and affordable housing build programmes ramp up but the Ministry of Education has no plans to build more schools right now.
The population booms expected in Ōwhata and Ngongotahā have one principal predicting a “school crisis”, while another is reluctant to sacrifice children’s play spaces to add more classrooms.
The principals – Craig McFadyen of Ngongotahā School and Bob Stiles of Ōwhata Primary School – also agree the new homes will be amazing additions to the community with positive spinoffs for families struggling to find quality homes to rent or buy.
October 27
What do mixed martial artist Israel Adesanya, former All Black Liam Messam and 28th Māori Battalion veteran Sir Robert “Bom” Gillies have in common?
They all went to Rotorua Boys’ High School.
They are among the latest inductees to the school’s Hall of Fame: Ngā Raukura i te Ao, along with a diverse array of sporting stars, highflying business leaders, creatives and public servants.
Established in 1991 by long-serving staff member John Raphael, now retired, the Hall of Fame celebrates students who achieved distinction at a national or international level in their academic, sporting, cultural, political or professional lives.
