Surf Sessions = 4
Km Driven = 4800
On the road again...to Rotorua. Somehow this place has become one of “the places” that people visit in NZ; tourists and locals alike. Rotorua has lots and lots of geysers, hot water pools, mud pots, and other volcanic activity. The town smells of sulfur – Maia says “eggs” and makes a face (and she loves eggs)! There are some volcanic areas you can see for free and others that cost $. The town also fancies itself the “Queenstown” of the North Island; this implies a center for “adrenaline activities” like skydiving, bungy jumping, blackwater rafting (basically boogie boarding down underwater rivers in caverns in a wetsuit with a headlamp!) and other nausea inducing possibilities. Unfortunately, that has led to quite a tourist feel. We came here mostly as a stopover on our way to the East Cape area.
We spent the night at a backpackers called The BASE (X Base). Whatever you do, never stay in one of these places! It is next to a bar (apparently all of their backpackers are next to bars owned by the same company) and is like being at “spring break” in Ft. Lauderdale. The rave 75 feet away from our room played a terrible mix of House and Trance music (and I, George, actually like that genre of music at times) at ungodly decibel levels until about 2 AM, then an hour of clearing of dishes, glasses, bottles and other noisy accessories gave way to a loud verbal argument between 2 young men in the dorm section down the hall. All of this was topped by an early exodus of dozens of late teens and twenty-somethings headed out on bus excursions to high risk activities or other destinations. Oh well – lesson learned! NEVER stay at The BASE!
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| Avoid this symbol at ALL COSTS! |
The only relaxing portion of our stay here was that we did go to the hot water pools that are in the historic area of town. They have a nice family area that includes a slightly warm pool with a kiddie slide and two hot pools. It was quite relaxing and we were there for about 2-1/2 hours (long enough to be fully “pruned out”).
The one big attraction for us is the Te Puia springs arts centre and school. They teach flax weaving, wood carving, and other Maori arts to people who have chosen this for a profession. You can tour the school and learn a lot of history there. Unfortunately, the school was pretty empty because everyone is on their way to where we were headed next! The East Cape town of Gisborne is the host to Te Matitini o Te Ra! This is the biannual national competition in Kapa Haka. Most people think of haka in terms of the one performed prior to All Blacks (National team) rugby matches. That particular one is called “Ka Mate” and was written by Chief Rauparaha to honour Chief Te Whareangi (a hairy man…mentioned as “behold the hairy man” in the chant) who helped him out of a pit after Chief Rauparaha was hiding from his enemies. Haka involves chanting, singing, vigorous body movements, and the exaggerated facial expressions. Groups compete regionally in the even years and the national competition is held in the odd years. We are fortunate to be here just in time for this year’s event:)
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