Rotoura and Taupo

Well lets see, what has been going on since the last time that I had a chance to put something on this site. We left Papamoa Beach on the 24th and decided to head down to Rotorua which is a large Maori center. Melissa had prewarned us about the sulphourous smell coming from the geothermo activity in the area. They are well known here for their geysers and hot mud pools that keep bubbling up from the ground. As soon as we got near the area, we could actually see the steam and smoke rising in the area from the pools of hot water. The next thing that hit you was the smell of rotten eggs that goes along with it. If I did not know better, I would have to say that we were driving through Saint.John and the pulp mills were going strong.


We stayed just outside of Rotoura at Blue Lake ( they were advertising no smell). It was a great spot and we were able to hike the 6km trail around the lake on a couple of occassions.

You cannot come to this part of the world and not take in a cultural event to learn more about the Maori people so we signed up for a cultural tour and dinner. They came and picked us up at the lake and took us into the cultural centre in town before we headed out to the village outside of town. The village was designed to represent how the Maori people lived and dressed in the early 1800 's and some of the rituals  they performed.

John, our bus drive,r picked us up sharp at 5:00 pm. Is was quite a chatter and culd go on for ever. On our way out to the villlage he stopped and picked up 30 Russian/Ukranines who going to the village as well. In total there would be 130 of us there for the evening. They have just stopped doing 3 shows a day because it is now in the slow season.

Left - Tattoo process for the Maori


Right - Dianna - Melissa and the Chief





In order to get into the village you had to have a tribe, a tribe name and a tribe leader. Some poor guy from Sydney, Aus got picked for tha,t thank goodness. We were called the Weka Tribe and our Chief had to greet the village chief with the traditional greeting which was to clasp hands, one hand on each others shoulders and touch your forehead and nose together twice. Our bus was turned into a Waka ( great Canoe) in order to transport us to the village as this was the main form of transportation back in the 1800's. So here we are in the Weka Waka heading to the Marae (Village) where we all gathered in the Wharenui (Big House) to accept the Te Wero (Challenge) from the Chief. Wait till you see a picture of this guy.

We had a great show put on for us called the Haka which I was able to video and the meal  called a Hangi. The meal itself was cooked on top of hot rocks buried under the ground and wrapped in leaves and cloth. We ate in the Wharekai ( Food House) until the Poroporoaki (Closing Ceremony) took place and we headed out with Han-Jay.

Driving with John (Han-Nay - Maori name) was quite an experience. He was trying to drive this big 50 passenger bus while playing tour guide. He did not have a headset which would allow him to talk and use both hands but instead had this big honking mic that he had to keep playing with in order for it to work properly. Of course this took his attention from the road a fair amount but not once did I hear Dianna tell him that he was too close to the line or that he had actually gone over the white line and driving on the edge of the road. All in all it was a great night and all enjoyed ourselves.

Today the 25th we decided to pack up the camper and head on down the highway to Taupo which is another community that sits on a lake. We have found another great camp site so are going to stay here probably for 2 nights.

The weather has been fantastic and the sun has been shining on us everyday so we have nothing to complain about. We decided to hike to Huka Falls today which was about 6 km and then came back and climbed into the hot pools that they have on site. Anyway we will fill you in on more later on.