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Published: November 7th 2007
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Rotorua 1
Maori warrior strikes a pose Kia Ora from Waitomo!
God this alliteration thing with the titles is annoying, stretching a bit for them now!
After a sleepless night thanks to some extraordinarily loud snoring, we got up to find it was absolutely hammering it down with rain in Auckland. We jumped back on the Kiwi bus, met our new driver Mar, and got taken up to Mount Eden, one of 70 dormant volcanoes in the region, which usually gives excellent panoramic views of the city. Not on that day though since the cloud was so low we could barely see five foot infront of us!
So we headed south and stopped at a small town called Thames for lunch, named by Captain Cook because the Waihou river that runs alongside the town reminded him of the Thames in London. Luckily by this point the rain had stopped and we had a nice wee picnic.
After lunch we drove over the Coromandel Ranges, passing by Mount Paku which was once a Maori Pa site (fortified village). We stopped at Hot Water Beach for a paddle but had unfortunately missed the tides so were unable to get to the bit where you can dig
a hole on the beach near the thermal outlet and soak in the hot water.
We then headed to Cathedral Cove and walked down to the volcanic formation and cathedral shaped archway at the beach which was stunning, if a bit knackering on the way back up!
After a stop for ice creams we made our way to Turtle Cove hostel in Mercury Bay, a lovely little family run hostel that has to be one of the nicest I've stayed in. After a fab dinner of spag bol (simple pleasures!) we had a few drinks in the bar, played pool and enjoyed a chilled night before heading to bed.
The next day we were up and off early and we stopped for lunch in Hobbiton, Middle Earth (aka Matamata) where me and Heather got our pic taken with Gollum and then went to the TAB to put a bet on the Melbourne Cup. After that we made our way to Rotorua, one of the places I had most been looking forward to getting to in the north island.
In Maori, 'roto' means lake and 'rua' means two, which is confusing as there are more than two
Matamata 1
Me and Heather meet Gollum in Hobbiton lakes in the area. Over 70% of the population in the area is Maori, so you can see signs of the culture everywhere. It also stinks! It smells of rotten eggs which is caused by sulphur because the earth's crust is thin here which leads to a lot of geothermal activity so there's boiling mud pools and shooting geysers all over the town. Many homes here are able to take advantage of the natural resource with many of them having private geothermal pools or using them to heat their houses!
After quickly checking in at the hostel, Heather and I headed off for our first 'luging' experience. What an absolute laugh we had, it was fab! We got taken up to the start of the track in a gondola and once we were kitted out in our helmets we set off down the track. Too proud to take the beginners track and not brave enough for the advanced, I chose the intermediate option on my first go. I got the hang of it quickly enough so went for the advanced track for my next two shots - it was wicked! By my last go I was just going for
Rotorua 2
All set for some luging action! it and even managed to fly (literally!) a couple of times - excellent craic! And all the way down I kept myself well amused by making racing car noises at every corner - just a big kid at heart I guess!
Once we had had our shot of excitement for the afternoon we headed back into Rotorua, stopping at the TAB to pick up my $18 winnings from the Melbourne Cup bet (yay Purple Moon!). Heather and I then went for a walk round a park which is full of geothermal mud pools and kind of made me feel like I was walking around in an Emily Bronte novel! Heather pointed out that you'd be pretty stuck if your house went on fire here because no-one would notice the smoke - they'd just think it was the steam from the pools!
Later on we were picked up from our hostel and taken out to the Tamaki maori village, a re-creation of a traditional maori village from the 1600's. It was fantastic, the definite highlight of my NZ trip so far. On the bus on the way over we were instructed on the rules and protocols of entering a
Rotorua 3
Nnnneeeeeeaaaaarrrrmmmm! 'Marae' (village). When entering these places it is customary for the welcoming tribe to send out a challenge of peace, 'Te Wero'. No-one is allowed to enter the village until the 'Powhiri' (formal welcome) has been performed. Warriors came out one by one and went through some intimidatory gestures and movements with their Taiaha (spear-like weapons), until the Teka (peace offering) was placed and received by one of the visiting chiefs (who, in our case, was some old codger Marty from Michigan who I think was too pissed to really understand what was going on!). Some of the expressions and noises the warriors made were funny as hell but we'd been warned not to laugh or copy them as this would insult the warriors and poor old Marty would've got a dunt on the head on our behalf!
Once the Powhiri was finished we moved into the 15th century village where Maoris showed us stuff like poi twirling, weaponry displays and reciting chants. We then moved into the Wharenui (the big house). It was set up like a mini auditorium but no women were allowed to be seated in the front row because if fighting were to break out
Rotorua 4
Heathcliff's gonna walk by any second.... between the home people and the visitors then the men would be the protectors (think we'd be screwed if Marty was all we had to look after us!). Then the Maoris came out and sang songs (waiata) then finished with the Haka, which was absolutely amazing to see. They really go for it - the guys were red raw when it was over because they'd been slapping themselves so hard, I just can't describe how good it was! I'm gonna try and put a wee video of most of it on here (missed the start unfortunately) but I don't think it properly captures it, especially not with my shaky camera work!
After this we headed into the 'wharek' (food house) for a buffet style dinner that was sooooo good! The food had been cooked in a traditional 'hangi' (earth oven), which had been under the earth on hot rocks for 3-4 hours. We were shown how the rocks are heated till they're white hot and are then put into a pit dug in the earth. Baskets of meat are put directly on the hot stones, then veg baskets and then the pudding basket. A wet cloth is placed over
Rotorua 5
Heather and I nearly take our eyes out learning the poi dance the food followed by wet hessian. Earth is then piled quickly over everything to keep the heat inside the earth oven. Thank god for microwaves, eh?!!
Once the meal was finished there was a 'poroporaki' (closing ceremony) which Heather and I missed because we were too busy in the gift shop! Then it was back on the bus and to the hostel, with everyone sharing songs from their own countries (I did Flower of Scotland of course, but calling King Edward's Army 'bastards' didn't go down too well with the English at the back of the bus! Ah well.) Such a fantastic experience, loved every second of it!
This morning Heather and I went for a wander round Rotorua while most of the others went to a geothermal park. Since we'd seen the geysers and stuff the day before we weren't too bothered for it so we had a coffee with Mar, our driver, who I'd gotten to know pretty well since Heather has a very annoying habit of falling asleep on the bus after about a minute so I've just been gibbering away to him all the time. After that we went out to the park to
Waitomo 1
Outside the pretty glow worm caves meet the others and learned a basic poi routine, while the boys learned the haka. Good fun!
Then we were back on the bus and made our way to Waitomo, where Heather and I took a tour round the caves there that are famous because they are covered in glow worms. It was really pretty, when it's completely dark it seems like you're looking up to the sky covered in stars.
And that's it so far I think. Planning going out on a night bush walk later with Mar and then, fingers crossed, we're heading to Lake Taupo tomorrow and I'll get to do my skydive if the weather holds out. I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!
xx
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