Last night's show at the Matai Maori Village was really something quite impressive. They do a show and dinner most every night, dinner is the traditional hot stone lined pit into which they place chicken, lamb, root vegetables and cover with wet leaves or cloth and allow to cook about 3 hours.
Yummy, dinner:
We were greeted by the host/MC who had everyone introduce themselves by country -9 nations: Australia, China, Korea, England, France, Germany, Romania, Japan and USA. He then told us the program which included having a chief of the 9 tribes who were guests of the local Maori chief.
Warrior canoe:
Our chief had to be brave, strong and fierce to command respect of their chief. So Bill was drafted. He stood on stage bravely while the chief and warriors greeted him and the visitors hostilely to earn his respect.
Bill and the chief with Ben assisting:
Then he participated in the ceremonial nose touching greeting, and Bill gave a speech thanking the great Maori chief for welcoming our visiting tribes. Quite fun!
Next morning we visited the Rotorua Museum which began life as a bath house in the early 1900's, founded by a British Doctor who made it very famous. Teddy Roosevelt sent the Marine Band from the Great White Fleet to the opening ceremony, who were in Wellington at the time.
Chris and the crabs at Rotorua museum:
The museum – began life as a bath house:
From the roof of the museum:
Then to Wai-O-Tapu hot springs. The photos tell the story better than I can so I will not try. Then on to Napier back on the east coast, over beautiful mountains and onto a fertile plane with many vineyards called Hawke's Bay.
Thermal springs:
Sulfur flats and geothermal generation plant:
Chris got a new hat :)
Not too inviting for a dip:
We found the B&B on a hillside and were treated to several glasses of wine and appetizers by a charming couple who also have their son and his family visiting-2 cute grand children.
Sunset from our B&B in Napier:
A light dinner and off to bed.
It's so neat that Dad keeps getting picked everywhere - from dancing to being your tribal leader! I'm sure he represented his tribe very well :)
ReplyDeleteThe museum that was a bath house looks amazing, not that I'd want to take a dip in the green pool of water!
Uncle Bill got picked again? How does this keep happening? Is he volunteering or just holding a sign that says "willing and able, pick me"?
ReplyDeleteI love that victorian era architecture. So pretty. They just don't make buildings like that anymore.
Were the hot springs stinky? The mention of sulfur earlier made me smell bad eggs when I looked at the photos.