Rotorua

After leaving Auckland and the comfort of a 'home', we were back on the road and heading south for Rotorua. This was a special place for 2 reasons. The first being home to a range of volcanic and geothermal hot springs; the second for seeing the Maori traditions.

We arrived after a short-ish drive and settled into a our hostel.  That night we were booked to attend a traditional Maori evening and meal (Hangi). I was a bit sceptical at first and thought it might be a tad touristy, but it was such an enjoyable evening. 

We were treated by the traditional welcome by the Maori tribe with the Haka and posturing of intimidating dance (lots of grunts, eyes and tongues). We were shown round a village, traditional song and dances and then the lifting of the Hangi from the ground. 

A Hangi is the Maori way of cooking food. Dig a big pit and line it with a fire and hot lava rocks, place food over the top in racks, cover and then bury with soil. The result is a lot of food cooked slowly in the heat. Well we both had a lot of food and that night, all of it amazing. (Kip had 2 main courses and i had 2 desserts, of course!). However the highlight of the night was the bus journey home, when a convoy of 4 coaches went round the main roundabout in town with everyone singing "she'll be coming round the mountain, when she comes...." (kinda had to be there I suppose).

 The next day in Rotorua was spent visiting the geothermal pools, lakes and features that are all around the town. These were quite impressive, if not very smelly. All throughout Rotorua there is the smell of sulphur and rotten eggs [cue: various farting jokes]! The thermal pools had a mix of geysers, multicoloured lakes and history on how the region and islands were formed.

Our final day was a bit different to what we had planned. We were anticipating spending one more night in Rotorua, but in the coming days we wanted to do the Tongariro Crossing (more of this later), this meant leaving for a new town sooner than we thought. Although before we left I managed to squeeze in a few hours mountain biking in the local redwood forest. Apparently a must do for biking; and I wasn't disappointed, the biking was amazing (if not knackering!).