Geothermal ALL DAY and Maori Cultural Experience

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Breakfast of champions this morning included a sampling of Dunkin Donuts, which happened to be a two minute walk from our hostel and quite convenient. It was a hell of a sugar rush for first thing in the morning, and really not very good. I wouldn't eat Dunkin Donuts back home in California. I was just hoping it might taste better in New Zealand. Oh well. I walked down the street and bought some savory potato pastries to ease the glycemic surge. They tasted ok.

We loaded up in our giant van and headed out to the Waiotapu Geothermal Walk. There were various loops you can do but our group did the smaller of the loops. It seemed like it would be the more interesting part anyway. However, first, we were told we had to head over to the geyser since it was just about to go off, like it does every morning.

We joined the crowds seated on rows of wooden benches in the blazing sun. The geyser was steaming but didn't seem like it was very interested in erupting anytime soon. A few minutes before the appointed time a Maori park employee steps up on the "stage" by the geyser and tells the tale of the unfortunate folks who discovered that washing your clothes with soap in the geyser causes a chemical reaction leading to eruption. He then brought out his own box of soap and added it to the geyser. I really thought he was kidding about that one and it turns out that's the only way to get the geyser to go off when you want. I guess we're spoiled by Old Faithful in Yellowstone, which actually does go off in regular intervals. Apparently geyser timeliness is quite rare. Learned something new! I wasn't quite sure how I felt about forcing the geyser to do it's thing- is it less natural, less amazing? I have mixed feelings. But maybe if you've never seen geysers, it doesn't matter. This geyser did shoot up to an amazing height, though!

After getting our geyser pictures, we headed back to the geothermal walk. I was really excited about this part because of the many different colored "pools". They look so neat in pictures! Many of them were heavy with billowing sulfuric steam, giving it a beautifully surreal look. My favorite area was the "Champagne Pool" with the steam and orange rim. The other neat place was the slime green pool at Devil's Bath. The color just doesn't look natural, like the color of green of Ghostbuster's or Nickelodeon gak.

Once we finished our walk, we headed back to Rotorua to grab lunch at another place on Eat Street, called Indian Star Tandoori Restaurant. We ordered a ton of food and shared communal-style again. The food was delicious, and I was stuffed.

The morning walk and lunch seemed to tire out a chunk of our group (mainly Laura and Tony), and they weren't interested in more geothermal exploring that day. The rest of us moved on to another area called Hell's Gate. It was part geothermal walk, part spa, part random other activities (like woodworking), and only a short drive from town. We had to make reservations in advance for this place, which we booked through our hostel front desk. I think this is definitely another one of those really neat activities we did this trip. While the pools weren't as colorful as at Waiotapu, the walk itself was still worth it. We walked past bubbling mud pools, billowing steam, in the blazing sun (it was another very hot day). I kept wondering what ancient Maori must have thought about this area, and how they stayed safe from the boiling mud. The second half of the walk was through rainforest (the bush walk). We saw a geothermal waterfall in the distance that was a special place for Maori cultural rites- you aren't allowed to walk out to it. During the foresty part of the walk I managed to FINALLY spot some silver fern, one of the national symbols! You see it everywhere, even on the planes at the airport. It's silver on one side and green on the other. Beyond the bush was a second geothermal loop walk we completed before heading back for the spa portion of our self-guided tour of Hell's Gate.

I'd never had a mud bath before. This mud didn't feel like normal mud, though. It was a very fine grain that was fun to mush in your hands and between your toes. We were told it was good for healing all sort of ailments so we just had fun slathering it everywhere. It'd fall off our skin the minute we touched the water and then we'd just reapply it again. After that we rinsed off as best we could under the shower, and headed for the other sulfuric water pools. There's signs everywhere warning you that the smell doesn't easily come out of your clothes, if at all. They weren't kidding. After several uses and washes, that particular bathing suit still has a faint smell of sulfur. It even made our regular laundry stink (which I'm not really complaining about because they actually warn you everywhere about it). The rest of our group jumped into an ice cold bath while I watched. Noooo thank you. Way too cold. Then we alternated between the two warmer pools. Occasionally staff would come around with platters of water in case we were getting dehydrated. It was pretty neat to do a spa in such a surreal-looking setting. Definitely worth it.

After our spa afternoon, we drove back to Rotorua and split off on our own. Not that we're in the least bothered by traveling in a group all the time- we've known each other for years and years- but I think we all just wanted to do different things in the short time we had. Chris and I really wanted to hunt down souvenirs since it was our last full day in New Zealand, other people napped and took showers. We wandered in and out of various souvenir shops. At first we thought we'd probably end up with a tiki- we were just having difficulty deciding on one. Then I saw the fishhook (hei matau) and I loved the symbolism- it represents strength, good luck and safe travels across water. Given our constant travels, I felt it made much more sense as a takeaway treasure than a random tiki.

We then met up as a group because it was almost time to head over to the Maori Cultural Show. We were still a little early so we wandered around the nearby Government Gardens. The manicured lawns were for some sort of game but we had no idea what they were playing on it. Something to do with tossing a ball in one direction but not bocce ball. Shrug. We watched an older man throw the ball a little bit and then I just continued wandering, taking pictures, because there really wasn't a lot of action to be had. There were some giant odd-looking trees that I decided reminded me of sea cucumbers but Billy thought looked like something "else" entirely lol.

At the appointed time, which I think was fairly late already, we boarded the buses that would take us to Tamaki Maori Village, where we would participate in interactive learning about Maori culture, enjoy music and dance performances and then eat a traditional hangi dinner. At first glance you're probably thinking this is just some New Zealand version of a Hawaiian luau show with a neat haka dance thrown in. No. Nooooooooo. First of all, I did my research (as I do on virtually all trips) and this was literally one of the best companies in the area, and not because they just put on a good show. It's actually interactive- you're not listening to someone demonstrate traditional Maori games, you're up on stage playing them. You're not just watching the haka, all the men are lined up, learn it and dance it. We have a coworker that used to live in New Zealand and she highly recommended this particular village as well. We were not disappointed at all.

Right from the start, our bus driver, who also served as our informal leader as we moved from place to place, had us immersed in Maori culture. We appointed two chiefs as we sailed our "waka" (boat/canoe), literally the whole bus laughing as we mimed with our hands paddling in the aisles. We learned traditional words, phrases and customs that we needed to be prepared to use when we arrived at the village, particularly etiquette. At the village entrance, we gathered in a giant semi-circle, our chiefs at the very front. Each bus had one or two chiefs appointed. As instructed, we stood still as the opening ceremony began. Per custom, it is absolutely rude to crack a smile, let alone laugh, as the Maori chiefs and warriors perform their traditional challenges of roaring, eye bulging and sticking out their tongues at the guests. If we stand absolutely still, we may be invited in. And, of course, we were, but then we had to offer a gift. Once the gift was accepted, THEN we were allowed to enter.

This next section of the evening we moved from location to location within a village setting, learning about their traditions. One of our chief chose Chris and I to participate in a "stick game." I think I was chosen only after having laughed when Chris was picked first. We were each given a long stick, and the basic tenet was maybe something similar to "red light, green light"- a childhood game. We were told the words for "left" and "right" in Maori. When the woman orchestrating the game said left, you had to move to the left as quickly as possible and catch the person's stick to your left before it hit the ground. Same thing in the other direction if they said right. You were not allowed to throw your stick to sabotage the other players, and you had to be fast, because they fired off the unfamiliar words in rapid succession. Once a stick hit the ground, that person was out. You kept playing until there was one person left, the winner.

The next area was learning the haka, probably my favorite part of the entire evening. Since only men may perform the haka traditionally, only the males that evening were allowed to participate. But we women were allowed to giggle and take as many pictures and videos as we wanted. Fair game. I loved that every single boy in our group got up on stage and unabashedly performed the ritual, stomping, slapping and yelling. So proud of my hubby. I've known him since Middle School, and the fifteen years ago my husband would have rather died than do something like this. I also took a quick selfie with one of the Maori men. =D Of course, I appear much fiercer.

The rest of the evening, I suppose, actually was similar to a Hawaiian luau. We watched as they lifted our cooked food out of the ground oven, and then filed into a hall to watch several singing and dancing performances. And then, of course, the ritual everyone was waiting for- the haka. I think the Maori All Blacks are what put the haka on the global map. They're intimidating and fierce and full of pride. The kicker is none of them are full Maori, however, it is required to have at least some Maori blood in order to be on the team. (I may have gotten that wrong but I believe that's what I read in a book on New Zealand). Chris and I became fascinated with watching the haka years before ever having seen it in New Zealand. There's just something so passionate about it that gets you energized.

Finally, it was time for dinner. We filed into the dinner hall, and were invited table by table to get our hangi, a traditional Maori spread. Honestly, it is exactly like an American Thanksgiving meal- ham, fish, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, even something resembling corn bread. I still can't really wrap my head around that one. How did Americans wind up with that as their cultural meal, too? The food was pretty good. I also got more giant green-lipped mussels. I had worried these things would be difficult to find, and it turns out they're everywhere on both islands.

It was late, well after 10pm, by the time we were headed back on the bus to our hostel. Our bus driver, still full of crazy energy, had us all in a chorus of song after song the entire ride. At the point that we were driving in continuous circles with a second large bus on the SAME roundabout belting out "The Wheels on the Bus go Round and Round" for literally five minutes, we were dying of hysterical laughter. There were cars trying to get on the roundabout but they couldn't because both buses took up all the space as they continued to circle over and over again. They must have been thinking were all lunatics as they sat there watching us.

So was Tamaki Village worth visiting? ABSOLUTELY. It was the perfect conclusion to our tour of New Zealand.

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

New Zealand
Such a wonderful diverse land.