{"id":243763,"date":"2026-01-21T04:35:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T04:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/243763\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T04:35:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T04:35:07","slug":"rotorua-te-puia-duty-manager-robert-phillips-named-as-man-who-died-at-blueys-pool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/243763\/","title":{"rendered":"Rotorua Te Puia duty manager Robert Phillips named as man who died at Blueys pool"},"content":{"rendered":"

A statement issued by Te Puia said Phillips, who was Te Puia\u2019s Te P\u014d (the product) duty manager, died from a medical event.<\/p>\n

Police have said his death would be referred to the coroner.<\/p>\n

\"RobertRobert Phillips died at Te Puia on Sunday night after a medical event at The Blueys geothermal pool. <\/p>\n

Phillips had been in an area nicknamed The Blueys, a small warm water lake near the base of the world-famous P\u014dhutu Geyser at Te Puia.<\/p>\n

The area is on Te Puia<\/a> land and is closed to the public, but local iwi have historically swum there.<\/p>\n

Te Puia chief executive Tim Cossar said The Blueys was \u201ca special and significant place\u201d. <\/p>\n

Cossar said mana whenua to the Whakarewarewa Geothermal Valley had relaxed at The Blueys for many generations and Phillips knew the area well.<\/p>\n

\u201cRob was a long-term and much-loved member of our Te Puia wh\u0101nau and made a significant contribution hosting manuhiri [visitors] for more than 20 years,\u201d Cossar said. <\/p>\n

\" The Blueys at Te Puia is near the base of the famous Pohutu Geyser. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

\u201cHe leaves a big gap. Rob was a real character and we\u2019ll miss him dearly. We take comfort in knowing that his wairua [spirit] will forever remain in the valley that he loved so much.\u201d <\/p>\n

Hundreds of tributes have been posted online for Phillips, who was described as having manaakitanga [hospitality] that was unwavering and unmatched.<\/p>\n

He had a history of working in the tourism sector and was described as bringing light to those around him.<\/p>\n

Fellow staff members at Te Puia<\/a> commented online that they would keep his legacy alive by looking after manuhiri in the same way he did.<\/p>\n

\" The late Jarmie Phillips. Photo \/ File<\/p>\n

T\u016bhourangi kaum\u0101tua Ngarepo Eparaima said Phillips was the son of the late Jarmie Phillips (also known as Jarmie Piripi), who was at the helm of Whakarewarewa Village Tours in the early 2000s.<\/p>\n

Robert Phillips is a descendant of T\u016bhourangi and Ng\u0101ti W\u0101hiao tribal leader and chief Mita Taupopoki, reflected in his middle names.<\/p>\n

Eparaima said given his whakapapa, Phillips was \u201cborn to guide\u201d and was born into a legacy in Whakarewarewa.<\/p>\n

A r\u0101hui has been placed on the area around The Blueys by Te Paepae o Te P\u0101kira until further notice.<\/p>\n

\" The Blueys at Te Puia.<\/p>\n

Phillips\u2019 funeral notice said his body was to be taken on his final tour through the valley this morning and \u201chome\u201d to his tupuna whare, Wahiao (Te Pakira) at Whakarewarewa where he would lie for the remainder of his tangi.<\/p>\n

The poroporoaki (farewell speeches and songs) would be tomorrow and the nehu (funeral service) was scheduled for Friday at 10am.<\/p>\n

Kelly Makiha<\/a> is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A statement issued by Te Puia said Phillips, who was Te Puia\u2019s Te P\u014d (the product) duty manager,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[806,1975,142827,6179,98,5158,93,10136,111,43,139,69,10936,5198,78744,3046,1327,8690,1299],"class_list":["post-243763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-as","tag-at","tag-blueys","tag-died","tag-duty","tag-man","tag-manager","tag-named","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-phillips","tag-pool","tag-puia","tag-robert","tag-rotorua","tag-te","tag-who"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}