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Published: January 31st 2009
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The Hangi Pit
Here's comes dinner! So folks...having slept most of the journey from Lake Taupo to Rotorua, Claire and I arrived at Crash Backpackers. The hostel itself was lovely but the arrival to the town was horrendous as the smell of sulphur and rotten eggs totally greeted us! It was enough to make any stomach turn but like most things, when there a while you eventually get used to it - or a bit anyway! Nevertheless, like many we felt it worthy of the name Rotten Rua as opposed to Rotorua!
Rotorua was a beautiful town but the main memory which we have from it was the Maori Night - which was absolutely brilliant! By spending an evening at Mitai, it gave us an idea and history on the Maori culture and the world of Mitai. We were shown the natural bush setting, we saw warriors in traditional dress paddle an ancient warrior canoe (waka) down the Wai-o-whiro stream, and we also got to see glow worms as well as the crystal clear water streams filled with eels and trout.
BUT! The best part of all had to be...the meal! Upon arrival, we were ushered to a large marquee which was set up like
a wedding and we were shown to our table. After everyone was seated, our host then came along & welcomed each of us to their home. Two chiefs were then randomly selected from the crowd and they then had the role of speaking to the mitai chief on behalf of all of us and thanking him and his tribe for their hospitality etc. After introductions, we were then led to an area which showed us where our meal was being cooked. Basically the traditionally cooked hangi meal was being lifted from the ground - by this i mean that the potatoes, meat and vegetables were being cooked in the ground over hot stones or the earth oven known as 'the hangi pit' - see pictures! We were then taken around their camp and after having been entertained by them all and shown their way of life etc along with the haka finale; it made for an unforgettable experience. We were then taken back to the marque, by which stage our meal was ready...and all i can say was it was one of the nicest meals i have had since i left home! - To be specific, it was made up
of:
A hot selection of succulent New Zealand Lamb & Chicken, Potatoes (Rewai), Sweet Potato (Kumara) and stuffing (a combination of Bread, Mixed Herbs, Corn, Carrots & Peas) combined with side dishes of scalloped potatoes baked with a cheese topping and freshly baked Garlic Bread; as well as a range of salads including Corn salad, Cauliflower with Sesame Seeds, Rice, Ranchslaw and Freshly Tossed Garden Salad along with a numerous sauces & lots of yummy desserts - can you sense that i enjoyed it?!!?!?!?
Safe to say that Claire & I totally piled high the plates that we were almost embarassed carrying them to the table and were absolutely stuffed afterwards! We then returned to the hostel that night and could do nothing but lie down and fall fast asleep - it honestly was such a lovely evening and although Rotorua will always be known to us as Rotten-Rua because of the smell, we both loved the Mitai evening & would recommend it to anyone.
The next day, we were back on the bus and off to Mount Maunganui. Mount Maunganui is situated in the city of Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty region of NZ and
is New Zealand's favourite summer holiday destination because of its white sandy beach on the ocean side, and a sheltered inner harbour beach. It is also the name of the extinct volcano which rises above the town and which is a main feature of this this area. Having stopped off along the way to Mt Maunganui to let some people on the bus do the zorbing - which is basically where you are placed inside a large ball with water and rolled down a hill for 20 odd seconds! Sounds crazy but those who done it absolutely loved it! (Claire and i didnt opt for this activity because as much as we would of loved to, we knew it would only make us travel sick unfortunately!), we eventually made it Mt Maunganui where we chilled out on the harbour for most of the evening.
By Tuesday, we were back on the bus and on our way to Auckland for the night - although we knew we were going to be there at the weekend again before leaving NewZealand, we still had to stop over there before reaching the Bay of Islands. The drive to Auckland was beautiful but the
And there it was...
The famous Mitai Meal! - Yum!!!!! closer we got to it, the more we thought we were coming in to Dublin simply because of the motorways and general ladscape etc! It was clearly the largest of the cities in New Zealand but unfortunately when we got there it was very wet and overcast and so were limited as to the activities we could do...The next morning we were up bright and early again to board the magic bus to Paihia, in the Bay of Islands. The journey here was gorgeous - thank goodness! Because our bus man Murray had had a slight tendency to stop at every hole in the hedge on route there!! When we eventually got there, claire and i spent most of the day walking along the beach - it was a beautiful day but unfortunately we hadnt the time to book activities or to spend any more nights there as much as we have loved to. So after a late lunch and another grocery run to woolies, we lay up watching dvds with Darragh & Margaret all evening! Great!
So by thursday (29th), Claire and I were now on our last Magic Bus back to Auckland...once again with Murray! If i
Zorbing
Just outside Rotorua didnt know better i'd say he was trying to deliberately make this one the longest as we left Paihia at 8am & only made it to Auckland at 5pm!!! Nevertheless, we stopped off at different sights along the way in Hokianga and other small villages and checked in to Nomads Fusion where we would spend our last 3 nights in New Zealand....where has the past 4 weeks gone!?!?!? That night we went for a few tipples again with Darragh, Margaret and Declan as this was going to be the last night we would see them until the Rio Carnaval - again, we had made some lovely friends over the past month and we're already looking forward to the reunion in February!
Once again the weather was by no means the greatest on friday and Claire and i didnt get up to much...aside from purchasing the Lonely planet for South America and a spanish phrasebook/dictionary - safe to say we had big plans for the 14 hr flight on sunday!!! On saturday, we also caught up with Claires cousin Helen who had arrived only a few days previous from Augher, Co Tyrone! Helen had recently qualified as a physiotherapist and
was moving to New Zealand with friends to start working for the year - It was lovely to meet her and a 'we'll meet for a quick coffee' wasnt long in turning in to a 2 hour reminiscing session for both Claire and Helen! I only thought i could talk!!
So folks - another leg of the travelling trio/duo's trip was complete! Claire and I had spent a month in New Zealand and absolutely loved every minute of it!! I cant actually believe that the next entry that i'll put on the blog will be from South America!!!! - Santiago here we come!!!!
So until then, happy reading and 'adios' for now!!!
Love to you all, miss you all loads and look forward to all the emails and text messages from each of you!!
Lots of love,
Angela xxx
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