eNZed - day 10 (24-5-5)

This morning we got up excited to head to the Maori Arts and Crafts Institute (well A and I were anyway, Dave decided he'd go adventuring) which is another hydrothermal area in Rotorua. Dave dropped us of at the parking lot with plans to come back in 2 hours.

After we got in I couldn't find my camera (DISASTER!) and we searched frantically around any place I could have absent-mindedly set it down without picking it back up, but no luck. The tour had just started and we were heading out when the ticket-lady at the entrance waved me down.. apparently I'd left it in the parking lot. I couldn't believe I'd done that, but I was so excited that someone had turned it in.. New Zealand rocks!

We had a large headed, large bodied, but short in stature guide (I forget his name) with long black hair (very pretty, I would have petted him if I thought that kind of thing would be acceptable). He walked us around explaining the curtural significance of carving wood (ohmigaaad I wanna be maori and learn to carve wood!! Watching this was so amazing! The tell stories with the carving!) and greenstone (actinolite, aka nephrite jade - I also wanna do this), the canoe (waka, which is now used for car or truck), flax - which they weaved their clothes and baskets from, kiwi birds, tea trees,



and of course the hydrothermal areas themselves which the Maori used for cooking. AND! come to find out, the head is sacred to the Maori.. they will not let people they don't know or don't like touch their heads. This is particularly interesting becuase of the number of Maori people that have large heads. It makes perfect sense!

We finally go to walk up to the boiling mud pits (!!) and I got very excited. These were actually thick and bubbly with lots of plopping =)!

But the next thing we saw made us decide that Dave needed to pay the $20 to get in.. Pohutu Geyser...


This is where our guide left us recommending we go to the noon show at the meeting house. We took lots of geyser pics and headed over, not really expecting much, but it was fun. We gathered into a "tribe" with all the other tourists and an Irish guy was picked to represent us as chief. He was requred to not giggle at the behavior of the advancing Maori warriors and that his duty was to not back down and to touch noses twice with the chief of the Maori tribe when he was deemed acceptable. This I also wanted to do, but when it started I knew I wouldn't have been able to keep a straight face.. the intimidating advance of the Maori involved lots of sticking the tongue out and wagging it around and poking it in and out. The rest of the show inside the house was good as well. Lots of singing, poi spinning, the Haka (Maori war dance - very interesting and impressive), weapons display, and of course we wouldn't want to forget the bird calls (right, A?).

After the show was over we scampered to the fence to talk Dave into coming in. We succeeded, naturally, and spent the next 2 or so hours getting to know Nathan Maxwell and the business of carving greenstone. It was awesome! He gave us each a little chunk (~2-3" long) that he polished up for us. I was very excited. I bought myself a necklace and then after an hour or so of chat I bought another one for my brother (half price!!). Turned out Nathan's dad (Hepi) is a master carver and he's the only one of his siblings interested in continuing in the trade. I found this very suprising - I mean look at those pics!! They're amazing!



Nathan tried to talk us into going to a hot spring off the beaten path with him (he'd swing by and take us from our camp), but made the mistake of talking about eels in the pool and other nasties so A and I weren't crazy about the idea. He also told us to go the Rotorua rock shop, which we did as soon as we left the Institute. Nathan had warned us about Colin, the man who runs the store (watch out, he'll talk you silly), and boy was he right! That guy did not stop talking until we were around the corner, but he had some cool rocks and we all bought them, and staying with tradition Dave spent the most.

we'd more than likely be asleep before he even got off work aWe had warned Nathan that we were falling asleep around 8pm, so if he stopped by to get us,t 9:30.. We tried to stay awake, but were relieved when there were no knocks on our van.


To see all the pics from Day 10, click here!