Rotorua

After Hobbiton, we drove just down the road to Rotorua, which is the center of Maori culture.  We attended a evening culture performance/dinner at a Maori center.  We arrived and were asked to wait here at the entrance.  It felt like a Survivor tribal council.

Then we were greeted by a Maori "warrior" who performed to show his fierceness.

And then placed a silver fern as a peace offering to welcome us as guests.

The next hour was cultural as we spent time at different stations learning about Maori culture.  Here are some of the guys learning and performing the haka.

I got roped into a stick game which practiced agility for battle.

Moving inside, we got a performance and explanation of Maori history.

Dinner was cooked in these pits where hot stones are placed and food is cooked inside.

Buffet!!!

The next day, we toured a Maori hot spring village.

The hot water springs provide heat and springs have been known to suddenly appear in peoples yards and homes.  The minerals from the springs cover every surface!

The Maori did not have written language (until the English created one for them in the late 1800's) and so passed down history and tradition orally and with their wood carvings.

They have adopted modern Christianity.....here we have Jesus with Maori clothing!

Maori were also part of the New Zealand troops that fought in both world wars.

Just south of Rotorua, are a couple thermal parks.  I do have to admit, having already seen Yellowstone earlier in the summer, the sites were not as dramatic and the colors, generally, not as stunning.

There is also a geyser that erupts at the same time every day, except it is an "artificial" timeliness.  The park drops in a surfactant (essentially soap) which induces the geyser to spew!

10:15AM every day.

I do have to admit that the green of the Devil's Paint Pot was better than anything I had seen.  Unbelievable!

After Rotorua, we drove west to see the glowworms at Waitomo!  In the caverns below, we took a boat ride in the underground river, looked up and saw the threadlike worms hanging, which at their tip they emitted a blue light.  Entire parts of the cave ceiling glowed.  Stunning!