An idyllic drive through rural NZ - Waikato and the 'King Country'- with fields of sheep, cattle, deer and thoroughbred racehorses by the side of the roads. Hobbito was filmed nearby- I'll try and resist any more LOTR references, though it is difficult to associate the landscape from the film! 
Rather than go straight to Rotorua where we planned to night stop
we drove north of the lake. We turned off to Okere Falls, on the Kaituna River. A good walk through the bush on very good but empty paths (where are all the tourists?); the only people we saw were a group of young surfy types in bouyanct aids with canoe/ raft things on their backs looking like a troop of colourful beetles, obviously about to jump in and do the falls the hard way! The falls were energetic and picturesque, turquoise with white foamy highlights. We walked on the the Trout Pool and dabbled our hot feet in..bracing! We had lunch in a shack by the roadside, which didn't look promising but had the most amazing array of deli/ speciality foods inside from Muesli to ground coffee, fudge to jalapeno peppers- we bought a selection of all of these and had a delish lunch.
And so to Rotorua. A very functional town, not beautiful.
It really is sulphur city here, set in a unique landscape of thermal springs, geysers, bubbling mud pools and sulphur lakes. Also a very rich Maori heritage.
We were staying at the 'Cosy Cottage' campsite- naff name, great place, 2 minutes to the beach where we dug down into almost unbearably hot, geothermally heated sand and burnt our feet with only black swans for company!
At six we were picked up to go to the Mitai cultural show on a nearby Maori reservation. not really the hawes thing to do an organised trip but it was such a good night. Hosted by a very funny, charismatic tribe member, who spoke a few words in 19 languages to the guests- 'the visiting tribe' as he called them- he only failed with Latvian! We were shown our dinner being cooked in a Hangi- underground pit thermally heated- then walked through the reserve, along side a magical bubbling spring with trout and eels, and a river down which the young warriors paddled their canoe proudly and noisily, in all their war gear (i.e. not much...) We were then invited to watch their show, showcasing their Haka, wardance, and other stories and dances, use of weapons etc. Quite a lot of audience participation too. 
Oli sat in the front row completely hooked! We hid behind him! We then ate the Hangi food- hmmm. Luverly. Back into the reserve for a glow worm walk and scary stories then home on the bus. Excellent evening- good on those Maories for using their cultural heritage to their commercial advantage but still managing to behave with dignity and integrity. (sorry, serious moment.)
Rather than go straight to Rotorua where we planned to night stop
we drove north of the lake. We turned off to Okere Falls, on the Kaituna River. A good walk through the bush on very good but empty paths (where are all the tourists?); the only people we saw were a group of young surfy types in bouyanct aids with canoe/ raft things on their backs looking like a troop of colourful beetles, obviously about to jump in and do the falls the hard way! The falls were energetic and picturesque, turquoise with white foamy highlights. We walked on the the Trout Pool and dabbled our hot feet in..bracing! We had lunch in a shack by the roadside, which didn't look promising but had the most amazing array of deli/ speciality foods inside from Muesli to ground coffee, fudge to jalapeno peppers- we bought a selection of all of these and had a delish lunch.
And so to Rotorua. A very functional town, not beautiful.
It really is sulphur city here, set in a unique landscape of thermal springs, geysers, bubbling mud pools and sulphur lakes. Also a very rich Maori heritage.
We were staying at the 'Cosy Cottage' campsite- naff name, great place, 2 minutes to the beach where we dug down into almost unbearably hot, geothermally heated sand and burnt our feet with only black swans for company!
At six we were picked up to go to the Mitai cultural show on a nearby Maori reservation. not really the hawes thing to do an organised trip but it was such a good night. Hosted by a very funny, charismatic tribe member, who spoke a few words in 19 languages to the guests- 'the visiting tribe' as he called them- he only failed with Latvian! We were shown our dinner being cooked in a Hangi- underground pit thermally heated- then walked through the reserve, along side a magical bubbling spring with trout and eels, and a river down which the young warriors paddled their canoe proudly and noisily, in all their war gear (i.e. not much...) We were then invited to watch their show, showcasing their Haka, wardance, and other stories and dances, use of weapons etc. Quite a lot of audience participation too. 
Oli sat in the front row completely hooked! We hid behind him! We then ate the Hangi food- hmmm. Luverly. Back into the reserve for a glow worm walk and scary stories then home on the bus. Excellent evening- good on those Maories for using their cultural heritage to their commercial advantage but still managing to behave with dignity and integrity. (sorry, serious moment.)
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