Gary+Jess:Its a Mini Adventure
 Rotorua We arrived late afternoon, so we thought we`d have a look about town to get our bearings. As this was the chosen location for my Taiaha purchase we looked in all the craft shops and workshops. I found one, but couldn`t bring myself to buy it just yet...still have more time! Hells gate was our first stop the following day, which is another Geothermal site, similar to craters of the moon, but considerably larger, smellier and more bubbly. As part of our ticket price we had a mud bath as well, followed by a sulphur spa...which made Jess` eyes hurt. She`s such a delicate little flower. They also gave us a free little wood carving, which as the carver was absent were quickly knocked out by the bus driver. Maori are multi-talented! Next day, the white-water rafting we had booked was cancelled because heavy rain had closed the river...pansies. So instead we went to Te Puia, the national maori cultural centre. We got our first welcoming ceremony (which isn`t overly welcoming as the maori warrior runs at you) as well as our first concert, with traditional dances and songs. We then had a look around their geothermal site, which had some pretty cool geysers! That evening we went to the Mitai Maori experience, which was very well done. We arrived early evening to welcomed by the compere, who had to select a `chief` from amongst the guests for the purpose of the welcoming ceremony. Thus Chief Huan Carlos of Honduras was born. After this we walked throught the bush towards the marai, with warriors paddling by in their waka! Once we there, the welcoming ceremony was performed we were treated to demonstrations of various aspects of maori life including their instruments and music, weapons and training as well as the significance of the tattoos. After the demonstraions were over we had a traditional earth-cooked hangi meal, which was delicious. The meal was followed by a bush walk to the tribes sacred pool, which was clear as crystal and surrounded by glow worms. We then went to the Rainbow Springs nature park and looked at some kiwis and tuataras, without the glass in between! On our last day we went into town to buy my Taiaha as it was my birthday. It appears i will be carrying it with me till we get home though, as the post office refused to take it! We spent the afternoon at the buried village of Te Wairoa which was destroyed along with pretty much everything else in the area in a massive volcanic eruption in 1886. After that we went back so that Jess could cook my birthday dinner, a massive steak. It was almost as funny watching her try and work out what to with it as it was tasty! The next morning we set off fairly early as i had an appointment to keep with some short guys with hairy feet on the way to Auckland!
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Diary Photos
| 5th Aug 2006 | |
| Te Puia Marae | |
| The Marae (Maori meeting house) at Te Puia, during the welcome ceremony. |
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