More on Rotorua

OK - only a week in and I am already getting a little behind (my boss Tom is probably chuckling - blogging for work or pleasure takes a lot of  time Tom!).  I am going to try to complete my report on Rotorua that covered both yesterday and part of today.  We had a fantastic day today and Rotorua was only a small portion so it seems a good part to fit in with my wrap up on Rotorua.

Rotorua

In my last post, I indicated that Rotorua is a little touristy.  I think that is an honest statement, but to be fair there are also some wonderful sights to be had in Rotorua too.  Don't skip it.

Yesterday, after our trip into Rotorua and taking the gondola ride to the hill overlooking Rotorua, we also managed to get downtown before heading to our Maori cultural experience.  It is a cute little town - and yes it is all about tourists, but still worth the visit.  Plenty of cafes, eateries, pubs, restaurants to at least make it worth a stop.  At our hotel's recommendation, we stopped in at the Pig and Whistle for a drink and bite to eat before getting ready for dinner.  Cute little place with good local beer selections where we also had a chance to talk to another U.S. couple that had just finished their trip to Australia.

By the way, our little blog posts seemed to have attracted some attention.  Over 300 reads in the last few days.  Some from as far as Korea.  So Kelly suggested that I put some information in about the hotels we chose (and why) and some of the restaurants we have eaten at.  So for those interested, we will try to do that at some point in the future.  However, it might have to wait until after we get home and have more time.

Here are a few pictures from the town.

From yesterday's posts, you can see Rotorua sits on a beautiful lake, so even if you just have a meal downtown and visit the lake, it is a beautiful setting and shouldn't be missed.

This morning, we got up and also visited the Government Garden in front of the Rotorua Museum.  The museum is suppose to be a "don't miss" center focused on the Maori and geology/geothermal activity in the area.  However, because we had already visited the War Museum and were visiting some of the best thermal areas New Zealand had to offer today, we decided to bypass the museum ("museum'ed out" was K's term).  Here are some pictures from the Government Gardens (created for the future British King/Queen visit at the turn of the 20th century).  The museum building (in Tudor style) is also pictured as it was in this area.  This is a lovely area of Rotorua and it is not touristy.

 

Lawn Bowling - the champion sport of the retired in NZ

This next part is for my brother-in-law Jimmy.  Jimmy, you would love to see that the game of bocce ball (called lawn bowling here) is alive and well.  On the Government Gardens, we found a large group of older men enjoying their morning lawn bowling.  Look at this folks - it was as busy and as full of life as any golf clubhouse in America!

 

K and I are trying to figure out how to bring this to America.  They would love it in places like Florida and Arizona.

 

There was also a hot spring (named Rachael Springs) right in the park as well - pictured below.  Little did we know this was just a vanilla, garden-variety, boring and small example of thermal activity we would see later today (more on that in my next post as I tell you about the Wai-o-tapu).  At the time, we were excited to see it. 



Maori Village Visit

If you come to the Rotorua area, you must attend one of the Maori cultural events.  This will include (typically) a welcoming ceremony, some small demonstrations on parts of their culture (tattooing, wood carving, dance, food preparation, etc.), a show (local dance/song), and a dinner (which should be from an earthen oven similar to a Hawaiian luau).  There are quite a few to choose from in New Zealand and even a few to choose from in Rotorua.  I did my research and picked the one that had the highest rating and the most positive comments.  Obviously, I am not equipped to compare since I only saw one, but I will tell anyone that wants to attend one, try the one put on by the Tamaki Maori Village.  You will not be disappointed.  We learned so much, met some great people, laughed a ton and just thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  Below are some of the pictures from our visit.

Posing with the villagers

Food preparation - from the earthen oven

The show - Maori dance/song

Teaching men the haka

The village welcoming ceremony

The village welcoming ceremony

the village entrance

They pick you up at your hotel in a bus (they call a canoe for the purposes of your experience), learn a few Maori words on the way (ka pai - meaning no worries, good, or everything is ok and kia ora - which is a general purpose word for hello, goodbye, thank you, etc.), get some education about the Maori culture, see them dance and then have dinner.  The dinner was actually pretty good.  Usually on these type of things (just like a luau) you don't expect the dinner to be a highlight, but it was very tasty (especially the desert of Pavlov - a Aussie and Kiwi favorite).

Here is a small part of a video of one of the dances in the show - the famous haka or war dance of the Maori.

Some of the educational parts of the visit were very very interesting.  First off, for everyone coming, learn there are several variations on how some Maori words - including most importantly their ancestral name - are pronounced.  Most of the Maori we heard pronounced their people as  "ma dee" with a kind of rolled "r" and "d" together at the "dee".  If you see Maori people, you will often see them tattooed - still a strong part of their culture.  Face tattoos carried a lot of meaning.  For men, the tattoos from eye to chin were about genealogy.  One half the face (not sure if it was right or left) identified mother blood lines while the other side the father's bloodlines.  [Man - that would have made my research on Ancestry.com a lot easier if we all had that.]  Above the eye was space for tattoos identifying rank and role - for example master woodworker.  Women usually just had tattoos around the lips and chin.  These were a sign of giving birth to a child.  [How about a tattoo with the scars of first child birth today ladies?]

The Maori culture - as with all cultures - have some interesting and wonderful aspects.  There are also some idiosyncrasies and warts that all would like to ignore or hide.  If you have a chance to come to NZ, learn about them and you'll be better for the experience.

Blue Lake, Green Lake and Wai-o-tapu Thermal Wonderland to come

So much more to report on our trip today.  The most amazing and beautiful part of our trip so far.  I have to show you some of the most amazing scenery I have seen in my life (I only hope the pictures do it 1/2 the justice).  However, we are packing up for our 12 mile trek across the Tangariro Crossing tomorrow (6am rise), so that is all for now.  I'll leave you with one picture from today's journey to wet your appetite and bring you back tomorrow.