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Published: October 2nd 2005
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- FOOD: More good NZ pies
- AREA: Lovely park with a sulphur lake which becomes gay prostitution and drug dealer area by night. Te Whakarewarewa - fake Maori village with free concert of dancing and singing, kiwi house, geysers and mud pools. Ohinemutu village with a church with a stained glass window where it looks like Christ is walking on water.
- PEOPLE: Anal and jobsworthy 'Superloo' woman and lady on hostel reception. Tattooed Maoris performing hongi and kapa haka
- WEATHER: Sunshine
Fri 5th: We woke and took in the glory of the park we were in. Huge with a sulphur lake steaming (and ponging) away nearby and a little thermal pool where old ladies were bathing their feet.
The morning was spent discovering how anal and jobsworthy some of the NZ population can be. The woman in the 'Super Loo' we stopped off at was determined everyone put their 20 cents in to go to the toilet and then kept coming in to make sure we weren't outstaying our welcome by committing the crime of using the showers (an extra 4 dollars). Amazing how she managed to spend so much time cleaning an
already spotless loo while keeping a beady eye on us. We didn't need her shower anyway when we could sneakily use the one at Lou's hostel!
However, Jobsworth Lady No. 2, the hostel receptionist, was on the case and very suspicious of us. For starters Mary was called Michelle for the day as I was the only one with a YHA card so she had to pretend to be me. We slipped up a few times on the name front and she kept trying to suss us out - especially as she'd made the mistake of telling us there was free breakfast which Laura and I of course took advantage of...
Still, she was helpful and we drove to Te Whakarewarewa where there is a thermal reserve and a Maori cultural area (fake village). We fluked our way in with a family ticket and checked out the shooting geysers, boiling mud pools and hot springs. Yes, Rotorua definitely deserves it's name of 'Sulphur City' - they STINK. It was very interesting to compare them with the South American geysers I'd seen. For one, the S America ones don't smell. Also, there aren't barriers and information boards all over
the place like here! I think Health and Safety standards differ somewhat - I'm sure being able to traipse all over the area where the geysers shoot up isn't the safest.
We found the kiwi house and realised even though they were in captivity, it was probably going to be our only chance of seeing kiwis as they are fast becoming extinct. Cute things - bigger than I expected with no wings or tail.
The Maori village had a few small huts full of carvings and decoration and then we went to the hall to see the free Maori concert (they can cost a bomb in other areas of NZ). A man was chosen from the crowd to be our leader and he was greeted by the Maoris in dance to see if we came in peace. They did the nose to nose hongi and then we entered the hall to watch the dancing. Love songs, tribal songs, poi dancing, stick banging dancing - very enchanting voices and interesting to see the heavily tattooed Maori men perform the tribal dances with the whole bulging eye, sticking out tongue technique. We learnt to say 'Kia Ora' to greet the Maoris
- not difficult to remember after drinking it lots as a child.
We joined the mini tour to learn more about Maori culture but were behind for most of it as it went at quite a pace and then hung around in the sun waiting for the main geyser to do it's thang (VERY impressive when it did - shot up super high).
The day wasn't over so we went to Ohinemutu which is a Maori village (non fake) next to Lake Rotorua where we found St Faith's Anglican church which is decorated in Maori carvings and has a very cool stained glass window with an image of Christ - beautifully done and even more so as if you sit at the right angle, it looks like he is walking on the lake.
We watched the sun set across the lake and then rewarded our days work with some beers sat in the van in the park. It was here we discovered the park is not all it seems to be - at night it transforms into a gay pick up joint, drug dealer haven and a place for teenage boys to hang out in gangs and pretend
to look tough. If I were those old ladies, I wouldn't go dipping my feet in that thermal bath!!
So New Zealand isn't land of perfection, cleanliness and purity after all.... although this is probably as corrupt as it gets.
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