Monday in Rotorua

Te Po/Green Lake/Blue Lake/Lake Tamaho/Old Rotorua/Dinner Theater

    Waking up early! The daily habits! ha ha! Once again today we had an early start! Today the group was heading out to Te Po! This is an old Maori ground! The front part of it is very similar to The Polynesian Cultural Center (only of course it's only New Zealand things). Then the back is very similar to Yellowstone! I know you are a little bit confused by this, but don't worry it'll all make sense! We walk in at first there is a group of children performing traditional dances! They were so good, and super cute! I think I have a secret desire to be Polynesian. Just a little bit I wish I could dance like them!

 

   Following this little performance, we went in and had our Maori cultural performance! It started out and they did a powhiri for us! This was the welcoming ceremony. They do this for any of the visitors who go to the show! They needed a chief to represent the visitors, so of course all of us girls volunteered Jim! He is now know as Chief Jim! He did such a  good job! 

       Someone came out and did a haka in front of him, then placed the silver fern leaf on the ground in front of him. He then picked it up so they knew we were friends. Then they called Jim and his group forward. Now this was so frustrating since we were traveling with the Chief they called us in to be first, but there were these Asian tourist that kept trying to push their way tot the front! Do you know how frustrating this is?! ha ha! Good thing that the workers were there to hold them back, or we would have all been pushed out of our seats! But no worries we got it and we were the front row (well second since the first row is for the chief and any male traveling companions. Then they went through the ceremonies of speeches and waitas. Following the ceremony, it was time for all of the traditional dance! They came out and they danced with the poi balls! I love these! They are gorgeous! Once they did that guess what they choose people from the audience to try, and guess what, I got to go up on stage and try them! They really are so hard! 

     After we had tried out the dancing, the males came and performed another haka for us! I have officially decided that I love the Haka! It is the best dance that ever was created!

   Now of course they couldn't just let the girls perform and have a chance, they had to have the males come try the haka too! This is when we all got Chief Jim, and James to go up and do the haka for us! This was so funny! I have never laughed so much in my life! No worries I got it all on video. It's not the best video, because of where I was sitting, but it's till pretty good! Be sure and look for when Chief Jim sticks out his tongue! ha ha! It was so funny!

 

    Following the performance we left and then it was time to go look around and see around the rest of Te Po. For this  we were special enough to get a guided tour! Yeah! Now I'm going to be honest and tell you our tour guide tried to hit on all of us girls about 50 times throughout our tour! It was really funny! Especially when none of us responded and just acted awkward! Anyway, the first place that we went to was just an overlook of the hot pools and geysers. This is why I said it's similar to Yellowstone. Only I felt like the surrounding here were a little prettier! It was all luscious and green! It was incredible! Very beautiful!

    As we were walking down to the geysers we got to see and learn a few other things! I got to see my first real live kiwi! They are so cute! I was feeling a little bit sheepish, because I came to New Zealand and I haven't even see a kiwi! What is up with that? Well today I finally got to see one, and not only one, but I saw two! They are interesting animals. I loved them! They were flightless birds just walking around the ground looking for food! They were super cute! As we were looking at these birds, I learned some very interesting things. Our guide was telling us all about the birds they use to have in New Zealand before they went extinct, and you know the white eagle birds in Lord of the Rings, well in New Zealand they really did have birds that size! The Maori people had to kill them off in order to survive, and these birds really did exist (Well not the exact birds, but the birds that are that size). How cool is that?

     As we continued on the way, our guide started talking to us about tattooing. He said it's something that is much more common over here than it is in the states. He then went on to explain that the Maori people don't call it tattooing. This was really interesting to me. The Maori village it is called Ta moko. Ta moko is learning about your history. It's tattooing your family history on your body, and showing respect for those who have brought you into this world, and respect for those you help look after. Each design has a finely detailed plan, and everything in the plan has cultural meaning. He then said, "Ta moko is a sign of respect for your culture and background. Tattooing is just vanity." I found this incredibly interesting. 

    After that we made it down to the geysers. This one was the second biggest one in New Zealand! It was really pretty! We got to stop and take pictures and enjoy it for a little while!

    After we had spent sometime here, we went over to the mud pools this is what heaps of people of to Rotorua for. I kind of understand this, but I'm pretty sure the smell wouldn't be worth whatever it does for you body. It was really neat to see them though. They also told some really interesting stories about how the Maori people used these natural resources in the ancient day. 

   Following the mud pools, we went over to the carving and weaving school! They have a school on this Maori land that teach Maori people how to carve the wood and weave the flax. This is so they can continue their heritage, and keep their cultural identity. I was fascinated by this. They had huge pieces of wood and then were just chiseling away at it carving in the most detailed things ever! I was thoroughly impressed by all of this.

 

After we had finished our tour, it was time for us to head out. This is when James took us up to three different lakes. The first lake was Blue Lake. It was gorgeous! I have never seen water so blue in my life before (Sorry I don't have pictures-my camera died. I'll get them from my friends though). Then they took us to green lake. They were side by side, not touching, but complete different colors. Green Lake is a protected lake. No one can swim in the lake nor can they fish or anything. No one can go near that lake, it is left exactly the way nature intended it! I found this fascinating!  Then the last lake was gorgeous! It looked over some of the prettiest mountains. They call them the pink and white terraces! It was super pretty!

    After this it was time to head back down to the home! Tonight we got to go to a dinner theater!  We were all very excited! We went and got ready, and then we set off to the dinner theater! We walked in and it was just a cute quaint little place. It reminded me of a theater that would be up in Yellowstone! It was so cute! It was all decorated in Maori things! The play we were going to see was about the pink and white terraces that we had seen earlier that day! I was really glad we had seen them!

 

    We sat down, and we had heaps of food! They started out and brought us appetizers! We had little spring rolls, then some rolls! They were very good. Then we had our main dish. It was like a buffet style, and you went to the back and got to pick what you wanted to eat. We had potatoes, kumora, shrimp, crab, a couple different types of salads, mussels, and green beans. It was so delicious! We were a little scared to try the mussels, but we all tried them!

 

    After the main course, the play began. It was about a family that was living in Rotorua, and what happened when the city was buried and the volcano erupted. It was a really fun play! There was a lot of audience participation a little bit scary seeing I was sitting in the front seat. Good news though my participation was to dance! I was okay with that! I felt completely comfortable doing that! Luckily for me I didn't have to try and fake an accent like some of the girls did! It was really funny! It was cute! We all really enjoyed it!  Then in intermission, they brought us out our dessert! Pavlouva and ice cream! It was scrumptious! That was a really fun night! I really enjoy going to plays, especially dinner theaters!