Can i take one of them home?

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Ok so i got chucked off the bus at Rotorua after a day at the caves; i had literally 10minutes to make myself look like i had been doin anything but floating around underground for 5 hours, before i was picked up for the Maori cultural evening at Tamaki Village; a replica Maori Village from back in the day.We had a brillo bus driver called mark who greeted us in 52 different languages. wow. we then had to elect a chief on the bus; had to be male; sexist! But anyway; this 'too big for his boots guy' volunteered and when we arrived, 5 of the men came and made themselves look very intimidating, and gave a peace offering which our chief duly accepted, thus allowing us to enter their village.

We then had a quick look around and heard talks about carving, food preservation and the most interesting i thought was the nature behind the facial tattoos or Ta Moko. Different areas are inscribed with different designs with different meanings; here are a few of them:
Left side of the Face - related to the mother
Right side of the Face - related to the father
Anything beneath the ears - children
Forehead - knowledge, a privilege only for the chief of the village.
Swirls between the eye brows - reserved for princesses or queens only
Swirling patterns on thighs, buttocks etc - represented the ocean, hoping that the Maori's motions around earth were as smooth as the sea.

We were then lead into a small hall where a number of songs and dances were shown to us, including some love songs and of course the haka. when they stick their tongues out, bulge their eyes, motion their hands and make guttural noises, you know you would not want to mess with any of them! Although there was one particularly attractive guy who i could not stop staring at! Particularly as he was wearing very little and clearly had a rugby physique mmmmmmmm. Had to wake myself up out of my dreaming as we were lead into the dining all where we were treated to a traditional Hangi, our food was cooked underground for four or five hours, wrapped in muslin sheets and surrounded by hot coals. All food had a yummy charcoaly taste to it. YUM! And then steamed pudding and Pavlova for pud. YUM! All rather full after that! There were a few farewell speechs and then our chefs were presented with gifts and invited to join in with the Haka before before we were packed back on our bus. MArk our driver again amused us greatly, singing a variety of national songs, including wheels on the bus go round and round and then we drove around the round about literally like 12 times, was hilarious! It was a good thing there were no police men in the area! haha

So that was a pretty awesome day tbh!

Then we got a lie in today (wooooop), bus didnt pick us up until like 11, wooooo. Jus gassed it up to Auckland and that is where i am now. Bumped into more people who id met along the way, pretty much everyone i have spoken to is gonna b in fiji within the next few days. cannot WAIT for some sun! :-)

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