Rotorua

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Kia ora!
On our way to Rotorua, we stopped at Waitomo where I went to see the glowworm caves. As well as the usual stalactites and stalagmites, these caves are home to many glow-worms. Glow-worms are very strange animals; they are larvae that live suspended from cave ceilings and weave sticky threads which trail down and catch flying insects attracted by their luminescent organs. The insect gets paralysed and the glow-worm then sucks it out. The adult form of the glow-worms does not have a mouth (!) and so only lives for 2 or 3 days, just enough time to mate, lay eggs and die. Hard to believe sci-fi animals but there's actually a museum about them and if you want to check them out, their nickname is Arachnocampa luminosa.
Anyway, we boarded a rowboat and travelled through several galleries studded with hundreds and thousands of tiny little lights glowing above us and everyone remained silent, there wasn't a noise. I saw the stars in a cave!
We then went hiking around for a couple of hours, with the first views of NZ's stunning scenery.

Rotorua is well-known for its strong geothermal activity, with fuming mounds all around town, hot springs, bubbling mud pools, geysers, but also the occasional whiff of eggy smell tickling your nostrils! Thanks to all this activity, we also enjoyed the youth hostel's own spa.
Maori culture is also very alive in Rotorua; so it was a good opportunity to enjoy a traditional Maori evening. Before entering the pre-European times fortified village, the protocol is that the warriors of the welcoming tribe send out a challenge of peace (rather intimidating) to the visitors whose chief then has to accept a peace offering symbolized by a branch of fern. Once in the village, you could see the Maori performers demonstrate daily activities and then put on a show with singing, dancing (including the haka) and traditional weapons demos (or how to crack a skull open with a blow and a twist...).
Then it was time for hangi, a Maori feast cooked in an earth oven. Just dig a pit in the ground, put some hot rocks in it, then food, cover with wet cloth/leaves and earth, and let it cook for a few hours. It was served as a buffet and hence you could easily see who was a backpacker - trying to eat as much as possible - or not. There was passionfruit pavlova for dessert. Yummy!
It was the Queen's birthday on Monday and, unlike in the UK, it's a public holiday here. They also have it in Australia too but at another date...
E noho ra.
Oli

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Photos

Tramping in the Waikato region
Around Waitomo.

Rotorua Museum
With bowling greens and croquet lawns in front of it. It was formerly built and used as a spa house.

On the shores of Lake Rotorua
Could remind you of Iceland I assume.

Maori church
By Lake Rotorua.

Ghostly shadow
On a bridge over a fuming pond in Kuirau Park right in town. And that was taken from just 4 metres away. Fortunately these weren't any sulphur-scented fumes! Survived.

Lady Knox geyser
Spurts out everyday at 10.15am...