Rotorua - The Second Lake is Number One with Me

7/9 - We decided to take a trip to Rotorua, this lakeside town a three hour drive outside of Auckland.   The Maori translation of Rotorua is "Second Lake" and seeing as how we never got to compare it to the "First Lake", the Rotorua scenery was number one with us.  As with most of New Zealand, lush, verdant, and green.

  While in Rotorua, we visited the Maori village of Te Puia, or bubbling waters.  This park boasts hot springs, a geothermal geyser, a Maori welcome ceremony and concert, a Kiwi enclosure, Maori architecture and a Maori traditional arts school.

The geysers were pretty awesome erupting every 30-40 minutes and spraying for about 30 minutes.  We were fortunate enough to witness the geysers erupting while we were touring.

The original Maori group that settled in this place utilized the geysers, springs, and mud baths for cooking, cleaning and bathing.  When a rival tribe decided to try and take the land around the hot springs the settled tribe performed such an impressive and frightening Haka that the invading tribe turned and left with no blood shed.

Very impressive geysers...

The scenery is other worldly...

Rusty reminiscing on this volcanic marvel. 

A front row seat to an incredible show!

Ahhhh...the smell of sulfur in the air and the roar of a geyser...good times people! 

Ain't nature grand?!?!?!

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble...

Our hostess for the Maori welcoming ceremony,  

A Maori ceremony wherein the warrior exhibits a high degree of aggression and force to assess whether the visiting tribe (us) are friend or enemy.  Turns out, we were friends.  

A Maori warrior displaying the Haka (several others were on stage as well - quite an impressive display in person).  (Although this queen was more like a rainbow warrior, especially during several of the more swaying dances - giiiirrrrlllll see you at the bar later).  

The balls at this woman's waist are actually poi.  The poi dancers were pretty good.  

A game of hot potato.  

A carved boat similar to the boats that first brought the Maori's to New Zealand.  One of the  most fascinating part of this entire trip to NZ was to reflect upon the Polynesian diaspora.  My geography skills are very rusty and I really am woefully inadequate in my knowledge of the thousands of Polynesian islands

This god is the guardian of the forest and sits outside the Kiwi enclosure.   We got to see another pair of kiwi's.  These indigenous and endangered birds are regulated by the state so only certain places have enclosures for breeding and/or raising.  

Carvers learning their trade.  Originally Maori carvers would use the bones of the Moa (a now extinct large bird), wood, stone, or human bones.  Today's carvers are using wood...and sometimes they use cow bone.   We also got to see weavers (mostly flax weaving) and stone carvers.  

After a full itinerary on New Zealand's North Island, we were ready to hop on a plane for warmer climates and Di Drew's wedding.  The people of New Zealand were warm and friendly.  The scenery was beyond compare.  We want to come back to this volcanic paradise and try out the South Island, perhaps during their summer.  Until then New Zealand, Haere rā.