Rotorua: Hot Pools and Maori Warriors

We left hot water beach that morning, and headed to Waitomo, a place famous for caves that are lit up by glowworms! On the way we stopped at a small village where they used to have goldmining, and went for a walk through some pitch black tunnels, where we had to hold onto the persons shoulders in front of us so we knew where we were going! We got to Waitomo about lunchtime and went for a tour of the famous glowworm caves. We were guided around the caves and then got onto a boat where we were taken through a cave which was lit up solely by hundreds of  glowworms on the ceiling, which was very cool! After that we went for a walk up to a lookout point, before going back to the hostel for dinner!

We left the next day to go to Rotorua, where Marc and Steven went luging for the afternoon (basically like go carting but down a massive hill)! 

When they got back to the hostel, we all went to meet Amberlea, Amy's stepsister, and Wade her boyfriend, for some drinks. We didn't stay out too late, as Amberlea and Wade had offered to show us around Rotorua the next day!

We started off the next day by taking Amberlea's dog, Flynn for a walk through the redwood forest, to a lookout point where you can see the whole of Rotorua, including lots of steaming geothermal hot pools! We then went to watch a bike race, where the participants are all in fancy dress, they have to down a bottle of beer after each lap they do, and the winner has to get a tattoo!

Next we went for lunch and then went to where Wade works to watch some white water rafting! Towards the end Flynn even jumped onto one of the rafts and did some rafting himself!

To end the day, we went to Kerosene Creek, which is a hot water creek where you can swim at the bottom of a waterfall, and the water is about 38 degrees!! We stayed there as the sun went down and then went back to the hostel to have a night out in the hostel bar!

The next day we were all a bit hungover, but we still managed to go for a walk around Lake Rotorua. That evening, we had booked a Maori experience. We all got onto the bus, and the first thing we had to do was choose a chief to represent the group... Then when we got there, we were shown the Maori ritual they used to do to see whether a visitor was a friend or foe before letting them into the village. Basically, the chiefs had to stand at the front and try not to be intimidated by the Maori men shouting and pulling faced at them! Once we were let inside the village, we were taken around different houses to learn about different aspects of the Maori culture. There was some audience participation, and Steven got pulled up to learn the hukka, and to play a game which was used to train Maori warriors!

After the games, we watched a performance of traditional Maori songs and dances, which was really good! Then we went for a Hukka meal, where the food is put in a hole underground and covered by hot rocks until it's cooked! We had chicken and lamb, which was absolutely delicious! Once we had eaten as much as we could we headed back to the hostel, ready to go to Taupo the next day.