The Geothermal Capital of New Zealand

The last two days I've spent in Rotorua, "The Geothermal Capital of New Zealand," named such because the town lies in a sulfur-smelling volcanic crater with geysers and hot springs everywhere. It's a larger town, but is almost entirely full of backpackers, because there are so many things to do here: white-water rafting, relaxing in hot springs, swimming in the nearby Lake Rotorua, skydiving, bungee-jumping, watching sheep-shearing demonstrations (seriously), etc.

Yesterday, the group I'm traveling with (from the Kiwi Experience bus tour) took the afternoon off; I did some laundry and took a nap. Later in the evening, we were taken to Tamaki Village, a Maori cultural center. At Tamaki, we participated in a traditional "welcoming ceremony," which involved scantily clad men dancing and waving spears, bulging their eyes, and sticking their tongues out at us, while screaming. An excellent way to start the evening. Then we got a tour of a recreation of a pre-European Maori village, with underground sleeping chambers, wooden treehouse pantries, cookfires, etc. The tour was followed by a 45-minute concert of traditional singing and dancing, which was full-on and very impressive. Finally, we were served dinner, which was prepared in an underground oven called a hangi. On the way home, the bus driver made me sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" to "celebrate" my Americanness... I was the only one on the bus and I think they just wanted to humiliate :-P

Today we slept in, then Chris (a younger English lad in my group) and I went white-water rafting. Though we were only on the water about 45 minutes, we had some excitement, indeed. We rafted over a 7-meter (roughly 21 feet) waterfall, the capsized, lost most of our paddles, and nearly froze in the 47-degree water before we managed to get back in the raft. Talk about adrenaline! (To ease your worries, the guides told us that it was rather likely to happen, so many safety precautions were taken, and no-one was hurt.)

Random observations: New Zealanders say "yis" instead of "yes" and "utch" instead of "itch;" food here is lacking in flavor, and they only have thick-slab bacon; most buildings in New Zealand are not heated, despite the relatively cold climate; laundromats are called "laundrettes;" Kiwis have never heard of ska music; there are no native mammals on the New Zealand Islands; Maoris are much more well-integrated into NZ society than are Australian Aborigines or Native Americans.

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