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Once we had arrived in Rotorua, we went white water rafting. It was a lot of fun to raft down waterfalls, one of which was the highest commercially rafted waterfall in the world with its 7 meters in height! We immersed into the water completely but made it back up without flipping over. For another waterfall, we all had to get out of the raft, hold on to the rope on the side and press our legs against the bottom of the raft. It was such a thrill, I loved every second of it!
From Rotorua I did a small trip to the east coast, along with 10 others. Hunter, our bus driver, was Maori so he could tell us a lot of great stories. The first stop was Maraehako Bay, where we stayed in a resort at the beachfront. We sat on the beach, cooked together and played a lot of games by the fire. I also had some great conversations with the owner and her cousin, subjects ranging from my future plans to religion, it was very inspiring. I would definitely recommend spending a night or two in the Maraehako Bay resort if you're ever in
the area!
The other east coast stop was Tatapouri, where we got our own little house, also at the beach front. We had multiple bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen and living room all to ourselves. We played a lot of games and had a little house party for someone's birthday. Since we started so early, we could still sleep enough until our alarms went off at 6. We were at the most eastern point of New Zealand, meaning that we could see the very first sunrise of the day from there. There is only one little island that sees the sunrise earlier. It was gorgeous and definitely worth the early wake up.
Back in Rotorua, I was joined by Keri and Janine to roll off a hill in a huge ball filled with water. It's called zorbing, and we were all in the ball together with 40 liters of water. By the time we reached the bottom off the hill we were soaking wet, but also laughing uncontrollably: it was hilarious. The hot tub afterwards was perfect to warm up again.
On the topic of Maori history, next stop was Lake Aniwhenua.
Owned by a lovely Maori family who don't make any profits: they donate every cent that they don't need to their community, feeding a lot of poor primary school kids, elderly, and arranging school trips, internships and university grants for those who can't afford it. They taught us to do the Haka, a Maori dance, so weave bracelets from a certain type of plant and they cooked us a traditional hangi. This is a meal that is made in a very specific way: first they heat up certain stones until they are white from the heat, then they place the meat, potatoes and vegetables over it in steal crates, add some water to create steam, seal the food with clean sheets and cover it up with dirt to isolate it. After that, it's a matter of waiting until all the foods are cooked to perfection and then they dig it all out (and no, the dirt does not get to the food). It was amazing, and the leftovers went to the elderly this time, as the next day was a Sunday so there would be no kids at school. It was great to learn about the Maori culture and to
be able to contribute to their community.
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