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Published: November 12th 2005
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5.11.05
We spent half a day in Tauranga, nice town, but we moved on south to Rotorua. Rotorua is a geothermal area full of geothermal activity. There is a constant smell of sulphur in the air, which is fowl! (rotten eggs) An excuse Andy used frequently when there was a smell in the van!
In the afternoon we went to Hells Gate which was recommended in the lonely planet, $25 to get in. It was good but not that good as we later found out. It had lots of steam coming out of the ground, which is strange, lots of bubbling pools and bubbling mud pools and the only mud volcano in New Zealand. Andy was a little disappointed but I enjoyed it as it was more volcanos and geology!! New Zealand is great for this!
This night we had planned to treat ourselves to KFC and the cinema to see Saw 2, we have wanted to see it since it came out here on 3rd Nov. So all excited we set out to look at the times at the cinema. Guess what! Showing everything but!!! So we had KFC and went to an Irish bar, had a game of
Bubbling mud
It has turned to mud because of the heat and the minerals in the ground. It's bubbling from the gasses trying to escape not because it's boiling. pool on a round table then went to the Lava bar, typical student/travel bar. Just caught happy hour in time!
6.11.05 we went to Kuirau Park next door to our campsite. This is when we realised Hells gate was not all that. This park is free and had the same features. It was really cool because it was like walking through somewhere like castle park but there is steam coming out the ground and lots of bubbling and big sulphur lakes.
In the afternoon we went to an indoor climbing wall called The Wall. It was wicked. We were the only people there so we stayed there for over 3 hours. We beelayed eachother and controlled the speed of eachothers decent, which Andy didn't like. His favourite phrase was 'have you got the brake on?' We had loads of fun and we got up to a level 15/16. Andy really enjoyed it and wants to do it again.
We went back to a different campsite, Redwood, and had a free hot spa then tv room.
7.11.05 Today was miserable so went for a walk around town, saw Rotorua lake from the van and saw some black swans.
We drove to Ohinemutu village (a maori village) had a look at the church, which was nice, then went back to the site. That night we joined the video shop and got a couple of videos for the evening, Constantine and Dark hours.
8.11.05 After our uneventful day yesterday we tried to redeem ourselves. We jumped in our van and drove to Mt Tarawera. We knew we were unable to get near as it is a sacred Maori tribes site but we had a look anyway.
Next stop was Kerosene Creek. A river just off the main high way. We had read that this was another thermal area where you can swim for free! The whole creek was hot, very strange. We went in and sat just under the waterfall, it was too hot to be able to stay in too long. We really enjoyed it. But not the blood worms that were on us when we got out!! We read the signs and of course we did not put our heads in the water.
We went back and relaxed before we were due to be picked up at 6pm for an evening of Maori culture that we booked
at the Tamaki Village.
We got picked up by Darren the driver, picked a coach load up. On the journey he told us we needed a chief. Andy got chosen as there were no volunteers! This meant he had responsibilities throughout the night. The first was to demonstrate the maori greeting with Darren. This involved touching noses twice. Melissa was the Misschief! Got to the village and there was a greeting ceremony that Andy and the 3 other chiefs had to be a part of. They were faced with a big Maori chief performing a dance and song.
We all then moved into the village where we strolled around and saw traditional songs and games being performed.
The chiefs then led us into a building where we saw a show and they taught us about their culture.
From here the chiefs took us to the dining room for our Hangi (a traditional meal cooked in the ground on hot rocks and covered by dirt). This was a massive buffet where we filled our bellies. There was chicken, vegetables, beef, mussels and salad, also desert.
After dinner we browsed around the shops where Melissa bought a Maori necklace.
At
the end of the night the chiefs got called up infront of everybody (120 people) to recieve their gifts. But not before they did their last duty. The Haka! Andy got a necklace with a maori carving on it.
We had a great night and learnt a little too. KI ORA (no not the drink, it's a friendly greeting/phrase)
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phill
non-member comment
aye oop
Glad to see your both still enjoying yourselves and havin fun,just give a little thought for us still in cold, wet blighty..we all thought Andy was part Maori as he was always rubbing noses with us at work....lol