Art, mud and warriors!

February 9, 2009

Napier was indeed delightful. It is nestled in the middle of Hawke Bay on the east side of NZ. A long boardwalk stretches all the way along the beach and makes for a fantastic late evening and early morning walks on the shore of the South Pacific. Napier is known as an “Art Deco” town – best description I can think of – it is a combination of the eclecticness of Bank St. in Ottawa, the village feel of Whistler or Banff, BC and the color of San Juan, Peurto Rico. If you have never been to any of these places – this description won’t help you one bit. You ‘ll just have to trust me when I say it was beautiful on many fronts and lots of fun to wander around for a couple of hours. It was a great way to start another stellar day in NZ. We then hopped in the car and began our journey back up towards Auckland to catch our boat. I have determined that we should always travel with a bumper sticker that reads something to the effect of – “STAY BACK! This vehicle makes frequent erratic stops to secure must have photo ops!” Suffice it to say, one hour drives often take 2 or 2.5 hrs to complete when we factor in all the “necessary” scenic view pictures. Today was no different. We were able to capture another breathtaking natural waterfall erupting from a hidden gorge off the beaten path of the main highway, a huge release of water at the Aratiatia rapids, where they damn and mechanically release water from a nearby lake several times a day, two escapee/renegade sheep crossing the highway, another hidden botanical garden, sulphur geo-thermal hot springs/geiser and, my most favourite scenic view, a bubbling, burping, oozing, steaming gigantic pool of mud. Seriously, it reminded me of something you’d see in the “Land before time” movies. And the smell .... what do you think? Yep it was sulphur alright ... but with a distinct burnt flavour tossed in the mix. Lovely! Made me want to dive right in! Definitely something I have not seen anywhere else – nor will likely go and see any time again soon:)

We finally arrived at our intended destination of Rotorura. Nice new building we are staying in – the only common denominator in all our auberges is the lack of air conditioning – NZ is not use to this kind of heat – so they are not equipped to handle it mechanically. Ya –makes for some sticky nights – but really, who cares:)

Tonight we are headed out to enjoy a Maori experience – authentic dinner and show. Should be a blast. Here’s what they say about it:

“Enter the world of Mitai: Be enthralled by the natural bush setting, see warriors in traditional dress paddling a waka (ancient warrior war canoe) and don’t miss your only opportunity in Rotorura to see glow worms! " Oooo .... can hardly wait!

Just came back from our evening out – what a feast! I was initially thinking this “experience” may be more like a Hawaiian Luau with an “edge”, however, it turned out to be much more educational, authentic and interesting. We ended up doing a couple of “bush walks” where we witnessed Maori warriors returning from a battle in their war canoe, and the night walk in the darkness did indeed produce the much anticipated glow worms! FACTOID: Glow worms are the larvae of flies and their sole purpose for existence is to glow, eat and reproduce ... oh, and their lifespan? 72 hrs. Not a bad life, except for the 72hrs part. The rest of the evening included an authentic (scary!) welcoming ceremony and various training games and war games the Maori regularly undertook. Fortunately for us, the meal was NOT authentic Maori (which included RAT as a delicacy) rather it was COOKED the authentic Maori way – buried in the ground with hot coals for hours. Yummm .... it was all good!

All in all, a great way to end off another beautiful day in NZ – I know I’m repeating myself but really, start to finish NZ is simply just beautiful!

Things I learned today:

• I’m glad I was not one of the first explorers to be greeted or eaten by the Maori
• Maori bury their dead on hills (like they have any other options!). The higher you are on the hill the more “important” you are. Sounds like a logistical nightmare to me!
• Fresh water eels are slimy
  

Kiori friends!