Thermal creek, Moari feast, surfing, Bhuddism...

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SUNDAY 15th - Thermal waters.

After the excitement of the Skydiving we felt a need to relax and enjoy some of the area’s thermal pools. Heading out of Taupo on the hunt for a place called Kerosene creek with no real idea of what to expect? - A swimming pool? A clear blue pool? A Small creek? Or a complex that we had to pay for?
After an hour or so driving we got to a little gravel track leading down to Kerosene creek, but the signposting soon finished and we drove way past the pool only to have to back track and park in the car park we some how missed on entry. No such complex was in sight only a little path leading through the bush and down to a creek (stream) where steam began to rise into the sky and a handful of people were bathing in the water.
- Bare in mind showers are few and far between when living in the van so the thought of warm water on our bodies was very appealing.
I didn’t mess around and got straight in. The water was so warm, I guess the temperature of a nice hot bath and the same feeling was felt when stepping into such a thing, a tingle of warmth ran from my toes up through my body and I was soon on my knees and my shoulder’s under the water. There was a little waterfall where hot water splashed into the little pool which was beautiful to shower under. It was a very surreal setting surrounded by New Zealand fern’s, birds and trees in the middle of no-where, yet for some reason I felt like was in some kind of special room at Centre Parks (UK). The water did have a slight scent of sulphur, similar to rotten eggs and we found when we left the creek the scent followed us soaked into our skin and our boardies, not quite the cleanliness we’d hoped for, but maybe better than we smelled before??

It was from there that we headed further north to Rotorua. We had been told by so many people that we needed to be very careful where we parked and that we locked up our van because there were a lot of break-in’s in Rotorua, which isn’t really the best way to form a first impression of a place. Rotorua is famous for its thermal activity and the smell of rotten eggs plagued the city from the drains and the sulphur steaming from beneath.
That night we parked down by the lake away from the boy racers in the other car park.


MONDAY - We finally see the famous Haka!

One of the main reasons Rotorua is so popular with tourists is because of the local Maori villages where you can feast on traditional Maori food and enjoy Maori dancing and of course see the famous Haka dance performed around the world by the fearsome All Blacks rugby team.
Booked ourselves onto one of these trips to Tamaki village, but we didn’t depart until 6:30pm so wandered around the nose abusing city for most of the day.

6:30pm, we were picked up by a coach with a big group of tourists and followed 3 other coaches to Tamaki village. On the journey there the driver and guide had to pick a leader for the group as we were supposed to be imitating another Maori tribe as special guests to Tamaki. An old American man was chosen and on arrival had to stand strong as the Maori men came out in full force and shouting loudly to try and intimidate our tribe leader. The American man stood strong and respect was gained by the Tamaki tribe as we were welcomed into their village. The performance was very impressive and very reminiscent of the Haka in itself, but with weapons swinging and a woman singing/screaming at high volume.
We entered the village where there were a number of little Maori huts. Just outside each hut a couple of the tribe member’s (Maori performers) performed and explained different Maori traditions and games. The scene was well set at that time of night as the sun had set and burners lit the painted faces of the Maori people.
Our tribe was then lead into a large hut where we were seated in a small theatre and we were treated to full song and dance and then, annoyingly for me the cameraman, with no introduction they began the Haka, which, seeing live, was awesome!! The whole performance was both interesting and entertaining, the use of a guitar looked slightly out of place but I suppose they’d have had something along those lines at the time.
The guide then led us into the eatery, where the smell of beautiful food was welcome to our sulphur polluted nostrils. We were seated and then asked to go and help ourselves to the buffet. Good food was a massive part of us doing this trip as food in the van isn’t always gourmet?!
Maori food or Hangi: Lamb, chicken, carrots, potatoes, fish, salad, mint sauce, gravy; we didn’t know how to control ourselves, we were like a small child with free rein in Toys ‘R’ Us. I piled my plate with food and consumed quickly before returning for a big seconds portion and then topped off with Pavalova (nowhere near as good as yours though Mum!! But I don’t think there ever will be, even thought these guys claim the recipe!).
After all the food it was hard to move with my bulging belly aching from the large quantity consumed.
The trip was then brought to an end after a performance once again by the guides and our leader of the Haka, which I missed again.
Back to the van, full and entertained for an evening.


TUESDAY - Surf town and Trapped fingers at a castle full of toys?!

Moving on form smelly Rotorua and leaving behind some ghetto boys of the city was no bad thing and we headed North West to a little surf town called Raglan, where we’d been told the waves were near perfect.
On the way we saw a sign for a castle that played host to toys of all eras. As with the joy of having our own wheels we pulled in to see what the fuss was about. As I hopped out of the van I swung around to the back of the van to grab my video camera. The tips of my fingers were gripping the passenger door frame and were soon squashed into the door frame as Chris slammed the door shut.
“%^$$$# &&%& %^&$%^ #$$%#$ %@#$%” I exclaimed loudly.
He quickly opened the door, guilty of causing me a whole world of pain and I bent over in immense pain clutching my bleeding finger tips. Let’s say my language was seriously X-rated as the throbbing pain engrossed body! OW!!! I went into the castle to wash off the blood, whilst Matt grabbed me a couple of plasters.
In the end the toy exhibition was $8 so we didn’t bother and we were back in the van and on the road.
We rolled into Raglan for lunch by the sea and enquired about surf hire in the area and where was best for the activity and our poor standard of surfing. We headed to a point break (Manu bay) to watch a load of surfers catch some awesome waves. The waves were so consistent, just rolling in one after another and visible for some distance in the swell of the ocean. We chilled there for quiet some time reading and watching and watching and reading with a brew. We parked up in the car park of a large hostel for the night.


WEDNESDAY - Everybody go surfing… or not?!

Matt hired himself a surfboard and I grabbed myself a bodyboard because I thought I’d get more enjoyment out of it, knowing how to do it better. We went to the main beach, but the weather was not on our side as the rain came down and the cold wind picked up. The main beach didn’t present us with very good waves, in fact not one wave I wanted to catch even on the bodyboard. As the wind hit my damp head and I ducked under some messy and rough waves, brain-freeze set in and it quickly became very un-enjoyable, so Matt and I decided to throw in the towel and head back to shore and back to the van and then back to the surf hire hostel to claim a refund. Ah well not what we hoped for, but at least we gave it a go.
Chris went to do a surf lesson booked through a hostel and Matt and I went back to the nice point break to once again chill and read and watch the surfers.
At about 6pm we picked Chris up and began a long drive up to a place called Te Ahora where we spent the night.


THURSDAY - Buddhist retreat and some happy hippies…

We were heading further north to the Coromandel peninsula and the Hot Water Beach for more chilling in thermal waters only to find that the road we needed to take was closed as a trailer had spilled and there was no way through. This meant that we were to head up the west side of the peninsula and up to Colville where I’d meet a friend of a friend at a Buddhist retreat?!

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A very good friend of mine from Pitcher & Piano, Zan, put me in touch with a friend of hers called Elaine, who Zan assured me I’d get on with, who worked at a Buddhist retreat. After a few emails it was set that we would go to the retreat and meet up with her.
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Not really knowing what to expect we pulled into the retreat which was visible off a small country road with a large sign and a big Buddhist monument. We drove into the retreat that consisted of some lovely gardens and a handful of little huts painted in bright colours. I walked to the largest building and up some steps to be greeted by a small Scottish girl, Elaine, who was glad to see us and was soon laughing at how she felt so small at just under 5ft surrounded by 3 boys all standing over 6ft. Her laugh was instantly infectious and it was clear we’d all get on well. She then introduced us to an American girl called Kat, who spoke with the most chilled out soft hippy-style voice ever and proved to be a ‘Hippy’ as she talked about good energy and how beautiful everything is. It was awesome, and then she and Elaine invited us to a dance with the people of Universal peace at ‘the sanctury’?!
As with everything we’ve done so far we go with the attitude that we must try everything, so we accepted the invitation, smirking at what we may have let ourselves in for?
I sat on a swinging chair on the balcony of the main building with a cup of rosemary and lemon tea looking out over the gardens as we all chatted with Elaine about the retreat and how it all works etc. She then gave us a guided tour of the retreat all of which was very interesting as we learned about the ways of Buddhism. Elaine was very keen on the idea of Buddhism, but wasn’t completely taken in by it all; she just followed certain ways and readings so it made it very easy to chat with her about it casually.
We were quiet inquisitive of what we were going to be doing at the dance, but she had never been so it wasn’t really very clear. We jested, much to her amusement, that we’d be able to get our moonwalk out or #shake it like your mother gave you# and ‘Flaunt it’…
“I don’t think” so she said, “probably be more about hugging.”

The night came and we headed up a mountain side, parking for a while to have our tea of sausage pasta, the ultimate backpacker feed (I know you’ll love that one Kim!) and then she lead us up towards a large church-like building set on the mountain side. As I got closer the hums of singing were beginning to be heard. The building was relatively new yet had a very ye olde look. I entered the sanctuary through a large wooden door into the hall. Inside 5 women stood in a circle holding hands and one woman, the organizer, welcomed us with her slow English accent. We entered the main area of the sanctuary where I gazed upwards into the curved dome shape of the immaculately carved wooden ceiling. The woman then welcomed us into the circle and asked for each of our names and explained what the dance was going to be about…
“We dance here for peace and love and happiness, creating a beautiful energy for the earth to enjoy” ...or words to that effect.
At that point as I glared over to Matt and Chris it became increasingly difficult to keep a straight face. She then talked us through the first song and then the first dance, which was very slow and the song was repeated over and over in an almost spiritual manner as we performed the slow dance with the person next to us, mine was quite an old hippy woman smiling dressed in long wavy clothes with her long curly black hair tied back behind her head where a pair of black rimmed glasses sat on her pointy nose… basically a true hippy who never let go of the 60’s vibe. As we circled moving from partner to partner with the dance and the eerie song, the situation was unbelievably surreal. I couldn’t really believe what I was doing, as it forced the bounding laughter in my head to the back of my mind. As we danced slowly changing partners it was inevitably going to happen when it was then Matt and I dancing together trying hard not to look at each other as each time we did the laughter was impossible to hold back. We didn’t want to seem as if we were disrespectful.
We did a number of songs and dances all of a similar fashion, each one as difficult as the first to keep a straight face until she said, after saying just the woman sing, “now just the men” and that was it, as our deep voices whispered and murmured the words, none of us confident singers at any time, I cracked up in laughter along with the rest of the group and I laughed so quietly and seriously a tear ran down my face whilst I grimaced trying so hard to hold it back.
It really was an experience I’ll never forget and such a contradiction to our usual antics of jumping off or out of something. At the end she said we must all depart with “love in our hearts and peace for us all and if we just leave with a hug, it would be beautiful”
It was so surreal and at times felt like some kind of secret cult, like something from the Da Vinci code. Once again something I’ve never done before and more than likely something I’ll never do again.
We left feeling enlightened… or maybe not, but we didn’t hate it we simply embraced it and took it on board.
It was quite spooky outside in the pitch black after such a thing.


FRIDAY - Moving on up.

After pondering around the gardens of the retreat and doing some much needed charging and a shower we bid our farewells to the lovely laughing Elaine and began a long drive up to the Far North through Auckland, stopping just the other side of the city to sleep.

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Photos

Entering a lost world
Right after that photo I turned to walk in and smashed my head on the frame! brilliant!

Not quite the women of Australia?!
Awesome singers though!

Trapped fingers in the Van door
OOOWWWW!!!!!!!!

Comments

[BIG Col]

Ha Ha
Ha Ha... Ginger beard!!!! Mint