January 29, 2001 Monday - Auckland to Rotorua, New Zealand
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| Cow Pit, Mt Eden, New Zealand |
The Magic bus came a little late, and Claire, a Brit girl and I got on the bus along with 25 other starry eyed backpackers, ready for our trip south. We made our first stop at the top of Mt. Eden, where we had a sweeping view of the city of Auckland. There was a long deep grassy dip with cows feeding in the hole, which looked rather interesting. We got on t the bus after that and headed toward Waitomo.
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| Rock Caves at the end of the trail, Waitomo, New Zealand |
Some people went cave tubing but I thought it was pretty expensive and cold for what you get. Maybe I should've done it. I walked the nature track there and followed a clear stream in and out of the cold rainforest onto pastures and fields. At one point, there was an older couple swimming in the nude - I didn't need to see that!
I managed to hitch a ride with a Kiwi family on the way back and found Patrick and Nick talking to a big fat Canadian named Larry. This was the first time I talked to Patrick and Nick and we soon became friends. Patrick is from Sweden and Nick is from Switzerland.
We went back on the bus and continued to Rotorua. Rotorua claimed to be the "thermal capital" of New Zealand and they're probably right. Numerous steam vents could be see all over town and the countryside. Along with this amazing display of nature, a foul rotten egg smell is also constantly in the air, to the dismay of Nick. We checked into the Hot Rocks hostel and walked in town to eat and then back to the hostel to try the hot pools they had.
Next day, we did stuff independently and I went for a walk around town and then to the Polynesian Spa to soak. They had various pools of water ranging from temperature of 35C to 42C. I tried a few and found it comfortable around 38C.
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| Government Garden, Rotorua, New Zealand |
After swimming and soaking for a few more hours, I went to the very nicely manicured Government's Garden for lunch and then back to the hostel. I met up with Patrick and Nick went to a nearby park where a week earlier, an explosion blew open one of the steaming vents and it covered the half acre around the vent with a white grayish ash. I lost all my pictures from that day for some reason. Oh well.
I went to the Hangi concert with Patrick - Nick didn't want to see something staged like that. The Hangi concert costs $52 but it also includes a buffet. We first went through a little reenactment of the meeting of "our" tribe with their tribe and then were welcomed to their village.
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| Maroi, Rotorua, New Zealand |
We soon walked through their recreated village where the Maoris in various huts perform what they used to do in villages - some practiced fighting, some sang, some worked on crafts, etc. It wasn't too bad - a bit on the corny side but not too bad. We went into the concert hall where we were entertained by the Maoris.
The Marois paint their faces to make them look more aggressive. They also pop their eyeballs and stick their tongue out to make them look scarier to their enemies.
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| Maroi dance, Rotorua, New Zealand |
The males chanted and danced for a while, then they demonstrated various ancient weapons they used to kill animals and rival tribes. The females sang and twirled various items. After the entertainment, we were led to the food hall where we had a buffet dinner. The food was cooked in the traditional Maori way where the foods were baked in a big pit in the ground.
I thought the food was nice but Patrick wasn't too impressed. There was a small song and dance after that and all the bus drivers and servers joined in on the sing along. I bumped into Jen and Hemmend who I met on the Cook Islands and we chatted for a while to catch up on what we've been doing.
On the ride home, he asked people to sing songs and when he called me, I panicked and wasn't able to remember any songs so I just sang the first few verses to Mary had a Little Lamb. It was quite embarrassing.
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