Te Puia: hot thermal springs and Maori centre

Typical sleeping hut with cooking fire in foreground. Must have been cold in the winter. Part of the mock up Pikirangi Maori village.

Ceremonial meeting house - Te Aronui a Rua. Having been nominated as Chief of the visitors - probably due to my good looks!! I was met and presented with a fern frond.

Part of the welcome ceremony they put on, ended with the Haka.

Chief Felton with the welcoming party - if I had known I would have dressed the part - note the tongue. Not allowed to stick your own tongue out. All very serious

The Pohutu geyser at full flow - 30 to 40m high.

Friday 18th June

Spent most of yesterday travelling around Coromandel peninsula. Roads quite busy with logging lorries. Going from Thames to Coromandel the road followed the coast for quite a time. Saw quite a number of pied shags along the way. Very twisty road with a number of single lane bridges. Noticed on most of the roads a lack of safety barrier especially where there are big drops. Passed through a number of road works as well - little TM, stop & go boards but everybody being very safe. Most works were maintenance type, not seen much

Hostel is quite large, plenty of rooms, Rotorua is quite large but due to the number of hot springs in the area the all pervading smell is of bad eggs. As there are the thermal springs we have central heating in the hostel, plus big deep cast iron baths - luxury.

Today I decided to visit one of the thermal pools, Te Puia which is on the outskirts of Rotorua. They have a mock up of a Maori village which was very basic. A few sleeping huts, cooking areas and most of the community life would have been conducted outdoors.

Moving on they have constructed a very modern state of the art building which houses a pair of Kiwi's. As these are nocturnal animals one rarely sees them for real. I take it that they have reversed night/day as it was very dark inside. But with a little light one had the treat of seeing both the birds feeding in the "forest floor". Very unassuming birds, but have bought myself a small fluffy toy one that squeaks.

The Pohutu geyser was good, performed well and was an impressive sight.

Booked into the 12.30 meeting ceremony and our hostess decided that I would represent the group as their Chief. Was it my good looks? probably not, just the oldest male in the group. Anyway she explained the ritual we would go through and told us all not to laugh. Firstly we entered the grounds around the meeting house and a young male Maori came forward brandishing his spear and chanting to me. He then threw a piece of fern frond to the ground
which I had to advance and pick up. One is meant to bend down, keep looking in his eyes and pick up this small piece of plant - quite difficult - oh and not laugh. One then steps backwards for a couple of places, upon which we were invited to proceed to the building and after taking off our shoes, entered.

As chief, after a brief welcome in Maori, I was invited onto the stage to shake hands with the 5 men and touch noses twice. Even though this was an enactment it was all very personnel and touching. The three ladies and five men then performed several songs and dances including the Haka. One had ones photo taken, the man on the right was the one who greeted me in the first instance.

Great place, they have a few students there learning traditional Maori wood carving, they have ladies weaving and a number of information areas on the history and meaning of Maori culture. As modern day human beings we ought to review their thoughts on how we should treat the Earth and her resources. Very similar I thought to the North American Indian.

That was Te Puia, I then drove across town to their heritage trail along lake Rotorua and walked the trail. Very pleasant but not alot to film really. Couple of points where previously the first Europeans bathed in the hot springs but I think this must have been quite dangerous. In one spring there was laughing gas present which either brought on a fit of the giggles or knocked you out cold.

Had seen both a float plane land on the lake and a DUK in the water so walked across to their offices. Due to the lateness of the day was only able to take a short flight over the lake and adjoining 4 lakes before the sun set, but great view all the same. Took a couple of photos but not very good due to low light levels.

Tomorrow want to walk amongst the redwoods then travel to Taupo.

Cheers for now.