Sunday August 7th and Monday August 8th, 2011
Sunday, August 7th, 2011
Sunday morning we had this great and exciting plan to go sea kayaking....unfortunately the weather did not cooperate and it got cancelled. Probably a good thing. The waves were pretty high and the the current a little strong so I feel like it would have been more work than fun.
Instead we stopped at a cute little seas side town called Hahei, grabbed a latte and then took a short hike to Cathedral Cove.
Cathedral Cove. Don't worry, I'll give you a closer look.
Not quite there yet but we're getting there. Burto said it was like a 5 minute walk. We have learnt quickly that if Burto says 5......prepare for 30.
Part of the little trail that took us towards Cathedral Cove.
And here we are.....Cathedral Cove.
That's me on the rock in case you can't quite pick me out.
These guys went floating by filming the beach. We waved. Maybe we'll show up in a promotional video somewhere.
Cathedral Cove was another beautiful beach spot. There's a bit of a catch 22 when traveling in New Zealand during the Winter. On the one hand, there's not nearly as many people around and places like Cathedral Cove are pretty much empty. On the other hand, you get to hang out on these beautiful beach spots but it's too cold to go swimming or do any suntanning.
Anyway, our journey continued from there as made our way to Waitomo.
The Twin Kauri trees. They are thought to be 200 to 300 years old. They can live to be 1,000 years old and get up to 80 metres (262 feet) tall. The Coramandel Peninsula use to be covered with Kauri trees but after years of the trees being cut down to be used in building and construction there are a lot less of them. The tree is now protected and cannot be cut down.
From there made our way to our accommodation for the night in Waitomo. The area is known for a couple things........caves and cows. Neither one of those things interest me very much but it's pretty so I enjoyed that.We spent the night sampling more New Zealand beer and chatting over some food (there was also an attempt at playing some pool). Monday would be another busy day......for some people......but a nice relaxing day for me.
Monday, August 8th, 2011
Monday morning the group got up nice and early......and I slept in. The rest of the group was off to do some dark water rafting. Basically that is tubing and climbing through caves and tiny little tight spaces. Those are a few things I just don't do so I sat this one out. Instead Burto cooked me breakfast, we loaded up the van and then went to meet the others afterwards.
Look, there are some cows now. But like I said previously, I skipped the caves. What I learned while waiting for the others, a kiwi.....not just a fruit. It is in fact the national bird of New Zealand. A little rare and nocturnal it is not often seen but from pictures......it's kind of cute.
The group in the van after picking everyone up after the caving. Actually a lot of space. We will lose a bit of space in a few days when we pick up a few more passengers and another guide but we'll make it work.
Today we were making our way to Rotorua a great place to experience all kinds of New Zealand fun.
This is Zorbing. Basically they put you inside a giant ball filled with warm water and roll you down the hill in it. I also skipped this activity. Apparently it is kind of like a water slide but slightly different.
A little video of what Zorbing looks like. I can't lie......does look fun. Maybe next time. This is Nikki's run down the hill. Everyone in the group (except Louise and I) took the ride.
From there we made our way to a different wildlife and adventure park. Burto had never been before but we had some extra time so we checked it out.
Love it. He's so fuzzy and stuff.
This adventure park offers lots of different activities including bungy jumping, and sky diving (but without jumping out of a plane. It's like one of those big air jet things that keeps you floating above a big pillow) and the Swoop (like a bungy jump but more swing like) and a jet boat ride.
The boys were super excited about the Jet Boat ride. Burto has been talking about it since Friday.
Evan and Burto all ready to go.
During their ride. Apparently it was super fun. The boys were impressed.
Louise and Nikki took a shot at the Shweeb. It's like a bicycle but they run along a rail......and you have to squeeze into this small and tight position. It was a head to head race between Nikki and Louise (pictured above). The group was pretty split as to who would win the race and it was a back and forth over the 3 laps.
Lucky for us it was totally a tie so we didn't have to choose a side.
After checking into our accommodation we headed out for dinner.....an event that is certainly the highlight of the trip thus far.
The group of us at dinner. Starting in the white jacket is Katie, Nikki, Jenny, Evan, Eilidh and Louise.
Our dinner tonight was at the Mitai Maori Village where we were able to experience a traditional Maori dinner and ceremony. It is interesting to note that the Maori people really only have one traditional food, the sweet potato, however they certainly have a very traditional ceremony around dinner.
This is the "hangi" or traditional Maori feast, which is cooked underground for hours. There's beef and potatoes and sweet potatoes and carrots and it all smelled really, really good. The dinner was fabulous but the ceremony was better.
On the North Island of New Zealand, there are over 70 main Maori tribes (by comparison there are only 5 on the South Island). This 70 break down to thousands of sub-tribes/families. The Mitai are just one of those families. The Maori people are related to those in Polynesia so you will see some similarities to people of island nations such as Samoa, Hawaii, Tonga, Fiji and others. Even with 70 different main tribes throughout New Zealand, they all speak the same language and share a lot of the same customs. Something that is different between the sub-tribes is the Haka.....but I'll get into that in a little bit.
We traveled our way through the village and next to the river to wait for the arrival of the warriors.
Here they come by "waka".
A short video I made of the warrior's arrival. You can hear them making their arrival known. This is to make sure that the visitors who are here (that's actually us) know that they are strong and will fight if we are here to attack.
A look at a few of the warriors.
This is the chief. As the Chief he is allowed to have many wives, although the warriors are only allowed to have one. You can see the tattoos on his legs (which are real and seem to be taking the place of pants). They are symbolic of waves and water.
You can see the facial tattoos worn by this warrior. In this case they are fake and most Maori no longer wear the traditional facial tattoos. In the past they would have actually been made by carving grooves into the face, letting them heal and then repeating the process. It was believed that if you couldn't handle the pain, then you didn't deserve the tattoo.
Music and song is a very important part of Maori culture. They of course have traditional instruments and games but also have grown to love items that have been introduced to their culture by Europeans (etc) over the year. Many of the games/songs/dances that they do are exercises they use to perfect skills such as hunting or fighting.
An example of some Maori music.
Very intimidating. Very strong. The makings of a perfect Maori Warrior. Cute and shirtless........totally a bonus.
The Mitai Haka. The haka is probably traditionally known was a war dance performed by men. As you can see from this video however, women also perform the Haka. It also is not always associated with war. It could be part of a welcoming ceremony for important and distinguished guests but from what I can tell it still always involves showing the strength of the village. Maori women were also known to be very strong and fierce so it is no surprise that they would be a part of a Haka, especially if the defense of their village is at stake. The most famous Haka is probably the one performed by the All Blacks rugby team before all their games. I didn't post it here but I assure you, if you've never seen it, you can find in on YouTube.
While the show was certainly the highlight, the dinner was also very enjoyable. In short, if you are in New Zealand, you must visit a Maori Village and share this great culture with some amazing people.
Eventually our night ended and we headed back to our accommodation. Some more very busy days ahead.
Julie
No comments:
Post a Comment