It was another beautiful day today. The weather now is so good, lovely clear days with bright blue skies with a sharpness in the air that you don't get in the summer. Had I known it was going to be so hot I would have put sun cream on!
We set off to Roturoa and the journey was pretty quiet. We went to Te Puia one of the many thermal attractions here. We started with a cultural show where the Maori people welcome you to their meeting house called a "marae". They send one of the warriors to greet you with a fern leaf and the chosen chief has to pick it up from the ground and then you can all follow into the house, leaving your shoes by the door. They put on lovely show with singing which was lovely and dancing and the women twirl balls around that are on string and they really do it fast and don't get tied in knots. Then the men do the "Haka" which is the first one we have seen. The inside of the building is beautifully carved and decorated.
After the show we had some lunch and then went to visit the Kiwi house. As kiwis are nocturnal you are not allowed to take photos but we couldn't see it anyway.
We then walked around the park to see the thermal activity. There was a huge pool of bubbling mud and although it was smelly it did not smell as strong as the other park we visited last time we were here.
We then walked round to see the Prince of Wales Feathers geyser and when this one starts to erupt it is an indication that the much bigger Pohutu is about to erupt. We sat and waited for about 20 minutes before it started but it was well worth the wait as it is quite spectacular with the water reaching up to 100ft. The hot water then flows down the rocks leaving lovely colours on the rocks from the minerals in the water. There is a lovely blue coloured pool which used to be used for swimming when this was a real village and the temperature is between 30 - 50 degrees. However, I would not like to be in it when the geyser erupts as that water is even hotter.
We visited a Maori village and saw how they lived and the ornate buildings on poles where they stored their food.
We followed the nature trail around the park and saw a hole with boiling water bubbling in it and they showed how they did their cooking in it.
After an ice cream we went back to see if the kiwi was in and we were in luck. They are really big birds with thick legs and very long beaks that they use to find insects under the leaves in the bush. So we saw our first Haka and our first Kiwi all in one day!
After all that walking in the sun we had, by this time, had enough and I was quite red as I had not put any cream on so we headed back.
There is still so much to see in and around Rotorua you could easily spend a week here so we will be back again sometime.
After a quick walk along the beach with Totty I was more than ready for my glass of wine and Jon was ready to watch the Australian F1 Grand Prix.
No comments:
Post a Comment