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Published: January 21st 2006
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Walk in Waitomo.
One of the caves we came across while on our walk. Trek in Waitomo
Everyday's a Saturday
Great views. Muddy track.
Another short and easy drive to Waitomo. Famous for its gloworm caves. I didn't want to spend $95 to float/swim/wade through a cave so I opted for the free option of going on a walk with Jasper, Paul and Cornelia. A really lovely walk through the trees and farms too even though it was pretty muddy out there since it rained all of last night. But during our walk the rains had stopped. So that was nice. Well except for a short period of time where it did start raining for about 10 minutes when we were walking through one of the fields.
There were a few spots where we saw a small taste of the caves - but no gloworms. We bumped into one group of tubers and they looked rather chilly! But they were having a grand time...at least that's what they told us!
It's nice to be able to enjoy myself and not have to spend much money. Also a good thing there are other travellers in the same boat so we can go on these walks and stuff together. 😊 It will be sad
Cow!
I wouldn't want to get much closer to this cow..seems a bit on the mean side! after tonight to say goodbye to some of these people who will be continuing with Mike's bus as I have decided to stay in Rotorua one extra night since I have the time.
Tomorrow morning I will spend on a 1/2 day tour around Rotorua and some thermal wonders of the area. I’m not sure what I'll do on my extra day on Tuesday but I'm sure I'll figure it out by the time comes.
Alex who I met up in Pahia earlier in the week joined our bus here in Waitomo. I don't think I'll interact with him much til he gets back on the bus since he's staying at another hostel. That's okay with me though.
Oh yes, also in Waitomo me and Cornelia went over to see the German Angora Bunnies. So puffy and fluffy. Can't wait til I am able to post a picture of these fuzzy beasts. Literally look like giant cotton puffs! We were in time to watch one of the bunnies being sheared. It almost looked like they were torturing that poor bunny. All stretched out and rotating like it was on a rotisserie! But it doesn't hurt them. They
do that so that the skin is taut for the shearing. They have to be sheared every six weeks because their fur grows so fast and if they weren't sheared they would die from overheating. Man I thought my hair grew fast. LOL
After our little visit to the Shearing Shed we were off to Rotorua...a two hour ride.
After wandering a few streets of Rotorua for a bit we had to head back to the hostel for dinner. We all signed up for a traditional Maori Hangi/cultural night with Uncle Slim. Slim used to be a bus driver with Kiwi Experience.
It was quite a good cultural night. Slim greeted us on the bus and then invited us into the hall where we were traditionally greeted in the Maori way by all of the kids...touching nose to nose twice. Then Slim talked a bit about a traditional Hangi...Maori meal cooked in the ground. But in our case because of health regulations, it was cooked in a hugeass pot. We were told that it still tastes the same and the food is ready for eating quicker.
Slim also went over some Maori stuff like the poi
Posing with the bunny
Cornelia and Bonnie. Hey Cornelia, how do we set this guy free? balls and sticks and stuff. First he got us to try out the sticks throwing them back and forth. Not as easy as it looks. Mind you Michelle and I had something like a 12 throw run without dropping them...a record I think...at least in our books. 😊 Then the girls tried their hands (or rather its all in the wrist...) with the poi balls. Now this is definitely a lot harder than it looks. I think I may fashion myself a couple of poi balls when I get home. I'd buy a set here but they are rather expensive and I'm a cheapskate. haha Then Slim got his 10 year old daughter to give us a demonstration. Now she is awesome! Looked so effortless for her. Slim's youngest daughter was giving a little show of her own too but she needs a little work still. But hey, she's only about two!
The guys practiced the haka and their scary faces too. Slims young sons were really cute performing the haka as well.
Then came time for the food and lots of it. Chicken, Pork, Mutton, Potatoes, Kumara (like a sweet potato), salads, bread and Pavlova (layers of
sweet meringue, whipping cream and fruit). All so yummy.
Uncle Slim told us more about the Maori culture and fielded a few questions as well. Someone asked about the facial tatoos (moko) and he went on about that for about 1/2 hour. I did not realize that a moko is actually carved! Yowzers!
After our Maori cultural night it was back to the hostel and then we all went over to the Lava bar which was right beside our hostel for a few drinks. It ended up being a pretty early night for most of us since it was pretty quiet over at the bar.
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