Day 1- we started this one early!!! We got up at 6:30am and started the 3 1/2 hour drive to Rotorua about 8 am. It's central New Zealand and like Taupo, the place we wrote about the lake, both are in a geothermal area. It is actually just up the road about 1 hour north of Taupo.
We got here around 11:30 and went to Te Puia. It's a geothermal park that also has a lot of Maori (new zealand indigineous people) cultural activities. We just got a day pass (you could also do a cultural experience, and a night tour and a special lunch thing). We took a free guided tour by an awesome native guide. Started with the main geyser. The pohutu geyser is the largest geyser in ten Southern Hemisphere. Unlike Yellowstone it erupts on an irregular schedule, about twice an hour. We got lucky and it started ASAP when we were walking. The guide said they nicknamed it "unfaithful" because of its irregular time schedule. There were three more small geysers erupting around it. At the top of the hill was a steam box that they use to steam food, just like the Maori used to. Apparently the area was named in honor of a Maori chief. It would be translated as class of tribes as this area was fought fiercely for due to the value of the hot springs for heat and cooking ability. Quote from the website:
"Te Puia is named after the pā (fortress), which sat on a hill in the valley. Being surrounded by geothermal activity meant this ancient Māori stronghold was an impenetrable safe haven for villagers, and was never taken in battle. "
They also had a wonderful display of a traditional village. In addition an amazing war canoe (waka) that was carved from one tree. According to tradition it was one of the first foraging canoes. They also has two houses displaying what a traditional meeting house and food storage place would look like.
To top this off they also had a wood carving and weaving school on site. This way they could pass down their arts. Finally they had a kiwi habitat where you could see kiwis! Tons of bang for your buck!
(Me in front of the entrance... fancy(
(Cec and I in front of the large geyser. Don't make fun of the hat its sunny as all get out here!!)
(One of the maori gods, carved by the woodworking school)
(Me in front of a representation of a meeting hut)
(Cec in front of the geyser, note the keep behind the fence signs because its dangerous. They let you get VERY close)
(One of my favs, up in front of the geyser)
(The steambox they use to make food using the steam)
(Oh, and in the running theme of "never in america", here is a steam vent in the pathway. If I stuck my hand in there it would get burned. And yes, we are ON THE PATH in front of the fence!!)
After that we checked into our hotel- econolodge Cleveland. It was ok. Nice owners and clean but needed a little more work and a couple spiders and loud. Ok but just meh. Then we went to the skyline and rode the gondola up the Mt Ngongotaha. At the top they had a restaurant and zip line that we did not do.
However, we did the luge!
That was a unique and fun activity. Hard on the hands because when you had to slow down.... You pulled back! The bumps on the road a little tough on the but too! However you got a thrill when you let it go and flew down the mountain. A ski lift brings you back up and then you ride the gondola back to the bottom! They also had pet deer that you could see on the way down. Very cute and similar to American Deer but definitely a different species (I know, duh). It got a little cold near the end (we had bought 7 rides to split), so the last two rides cec did on his own and I drank hot chocolate and ate shortbread in the lodge and watched the beautiful scenery. Then it's back to the lodge to eat some soup that I had packed from our house and bed we had a big day the next one!
(Rotovegas.....baby? Actually notice the jaw dropping view in the background)
(Cec having fun on the luge)
(Cec on his way up the ski lift from the luge)
(View from the top of Rotorua)
Day 2- REDWOOD FOREST!
What a big day! Started off around 9 am after some oatmeal in the hotel by heading to the redwood forest! Yes, they have redwoods in nz! They were planted from 1901-1960 because the redwoods were famous for their wood for building and brought in for that reason. They enjoyed the climate and rice soil in the volcanic valley and thrived here where a lot of other places … not as much. Our walk was a little over a mile and you really felt like you were in a weird and wonderful place!! After that we headed to blue lake track walk which was a smidge over 3 miles and a nice tramping (kiwi term for hiking) track around a freshwater lake!! Unfortunately it was a little overcast and we had a few sprinkles but it was a nice walk regardless! We ate some good old pb&j and trail mix then headed to the bird of prey center and watched an amazing falconing demonstration. They rescue birds that are injured or abandoned and either rehabilitate and if they can't they breed them. Most of the birds were the New Zealand falcon, kārearea. They hunt small mammals, insects, and up to rabbit sized things for the larger females. We met two Falcons and got to see their training and learn their back stories and techniques. I even got to hold one and cec got some awesome photos!!
(Redwood forest, I thought it looked fake at first it was surreal)
(Hug a tree!!)
(They are so huge!!)
(The forest was pretty, even the decomposing stagnant water!)
(I felt shorter than normal!)
They were interspersed with ferns in some places, which makes it very different looking than the forests in the US I'm familiar with)
(Hike #2!!!)
Bird of prey center!)
(Get that lure!!)
(Did I mention I got to hold one!?!?!)
After that we headed back to the hotel and grabbed a shower and. A change of clothes to go to our Maori Hangi dinner and cultural performance at Tamaki village!! Tamaki village is a cultural attraction in the Rotorua forest. We got picked up at our hotel then were transported to the village. Cecil was the chief of our bus and got to be a lead in the performance!! The chiefs of the village addressed us with a welcome haka/display basically asking if we were there to fight or be friendly. They were intimidating and the Chiefs/Cecil were addressed and say we were coming in piece. After that was satisfied we were invited into the village. In the village we went around to different stations/guts to learn about their training. Weaving, games, tatoa (tatoo) and history. We were shown how our dinner was made in the hangi (steam pits) and watched an amazing display of Maori song and dance.
Then dinner!! It felt almost like thanksgiving: chicken, lamb, sweet potato/kumara, potatoes, carrots, stuffing, mussels, salad, Rowena bread with gravy and cranberry sauce. Dessert was pavlova, steamed date pudding and sauce (suet pudding lite). They even had a traditional KawaKawa Tea to try which is brewed from fresh local leaves. If your wondering, it was a nice black tea. Dinner was finished with a farewell that was beautiful in Maori and translated. Then a farewell haka with the Chiefs, which I recorded a tidbit for your viewing pleasure http://youtu.be/tOIiM6g0fss.
Our bus driver was hilarious on the way back. We sing songs like wheels on the bus and we'll be coming aprons the mountain. Notably, he went around a roundabout three times during the "we'll be coming around the mountain" refrain and it was hilarious! The whole tour was an informative and very well hosted event. Both cec and I felt like we learned something and laughed and enjoyed ourselves very much. Got back about 9:30 and watched a little tv as we had an early morning the next day!
(Ready to board!!)
(Oh, and there was an accident so the bus had been detoured OFF road. Oh and to make it worse the bus was a stick shift!!)
(Cecil getting the fern offering from the chief)
(Doing the traditional maori greeting, which is touching noses twice.)
(We learned about their stick games. This one was all about foot agility. Apparently, they valued dexterity a lot because they fought a lot of battles in forest and they didn't want people tripping)
(The men learning the haka, getting ready for battle)
Women learning the Poi
(More dexterity games. This one was like musical chairs they called "left" and "right" in maori and they had to run and catch the sticks before they found the ground.)
(They showed us how they made the hangi dinner using geothermal steam)
(Cec being a goofball at dinner)
(Here is our traditional dinner, looks tasty.... it was)
Day 3- AGRODOME AND HOBBITON!
The day started early with us heading into town to start our city tour of Rotorua. Basically we got on the coach and we had a wonderful tour guide tells about some of the history and highlights of the city that we didn't know before. We ended up going back to te puia which I didn't expect. After that we went to rainbow Springs Park which is a family oriented zoo. Overall it was a pretty nice you even though we had seen a couple of those types of animals before in better exhibits. The Kiwi in counter was best we've seen so far. Very easy to see Kiwi which was always fun pretty much anytime you get to see Kiwis it's fun actually.
After the guided tour of the park we went to the agorodome . That was the highlight of the day. Pretty much we went and got to see a show we got to see the 16 different breeds of sheep that they have on premises as well as see a live sheep shearing demonstration and have a lot of Kiwi humor at the same time. Cecil I thought was going to Pee himself he was laughing so hard. Cecil did volunteer did end up getting to feed baby sheep which is always fun :-). After that belly ache inducing fun zone we were dropped off to grab some lunch before our trip to hobbiton.
We grabbed some sushi and bento and then got on the bus for matamata (the town that hobbiton is in). Hobbiton is built on a farm in the middle of New Zealand basically in the middle of nowhere. It was built because it had the trees and lake and Rolling hills that they needed for Peter Jackson's vision. The guy told us a lot about the landscapes and some history. The bus driver actually it worked for the movies helping to transfer things and basically being a bus driver. After a lot of colorful stories we ended up getting there and getting our guided tour Hobbiton. Apparently you aren't allowed to just walk around Hobbiton because it's still private property and they don't want people just wondering around the farm which I think makes total sense. The tour was a little bit more rush than I would've liked. They basically had tour groups of about 20 people every 10 minutes going through the place. So there wasn't a lot of time. However, there was enough time to admire the craftsmanship of everything. It was built in things that were made to last for 50-100 years so you could see every little detail. The huts each had their own character. It was interesting also to find out the huts only were built in about a meter into the sides of the hill. One of them you could peek in and trust me it loses some of the glamour when you see that it's just basically an earth and hillside. However, it made for a great fun taking some amazing photos that I am happy to share with you all :-). We also got to grab a quick drink at the Green Dragon in that was built on premises people. The Apple cider was average but the Decorations in the place was warming. They gave us a little bit of time to do some retail therapy and then it was back to Rotorua. We didn't get back till after 7 o'clock, and we did a quick run to the grocery store before dinner and then heading to bed.
(Another visit to Te Puia, and boy did we have some nice lighting and views!)
(Yes, even a rainbow..... see it?
(Look at all the types of sheep!)
Sheep shearing demo. So impressive and quick!
(Cecil got to feed baby sheep!!)
(And he did it fastest, and "won" his competition, and got the wool from the sheared sheep!)
(Did I mention there were baby alpacas too?)
(At the kiwi park they had a GIANT greenstone. It was good luck to rub the water flowing over it)
(Entering hobbiton!)
(Enjoying the view!)
(so many details to look at. See any recognizable names on the fish?)
(Perfect day!!)
(Even though everything was permanent, it looked so REAL and TASTY!)
(My fav pic from the day. We got to enter our hobbit hall)
(Look at all the landscape set with hobbit holes, it was gorgeous)
(Recognize the famous hole we are at?)
(Heading to the green dragon...)
(Having a drink before heading out.)
Day 4- our last day there we spent the morning by sleeping in a little bit. If you call and I am sleeping in, but it felt like that after the last couple days. Then we went to the local park because it is a giant you thermal zone and took some amazing pictures. It was the perfect time a day to do that because of still cool and in the geothermal zones the ground itself is hot. So if you go to somewhere like that in the middle of the day you and I'm sweating like crazy.
Anyway, after about a half an hour we took a leave of the park and went to the blueberry farm. They had a lot of different blueberry products from liquors and jams and jellies to food. Of course we had some blueberry pancakes and I got a blueberry scone. Even split a really amazing blueberry pie which should've been called tart but whatever it was delicious. After that we were headed home. We wanted to get back at a decent time because I had to go to the grocery store and Cecil work early the next day. It was also a good five hour plus drive from Rotorua back to wanting to eat. The drive is uneventful we listen to audiobooks and headed back. And that leads us to where we are now :-)
(Walk in the park.... notice the play area for kids is contrasted by the dangerous steam vents)
(BEAUTIFUL steaming lake in the morning)
I'm amazed what they leave out! I was just checking my cell phone and realized that I had stopped right in front of a steam vent that was gushing out steam! Would not happen in the states
(Was the sign really necessary?)
Spooky! looked like the dead marshes from Lord of the Rings
(Mmmmm blueberry pie.... tart.. whatever tasty!!)
