Steaming Soil, Bubbling Mud and Funny Faces

The first priority for us in the Geo-Thermal region of Rotorua (Tuesday 9^th) was to see some of the geological wonders. We went to Waiotupo, which was generally recommended as the best site for the experience. Of course there was the pong, but loads of brilliant colours, steaming lakes, craters, bubbling sludge, and nicely presented education about the history and geology of the region. Definitely it was a tick for the whistle-stop New Zealand tourist.

Next on the must-see list was endemic fauna (look it up if you have to!). There was a small nature park called Rainbow Springs that promised Kiwis, which could not be omitted on any visit to NZ. We already knew that they were nocturnal creatures, so an afternoon spent saying hello to many other of the strange and endearing creatures was followed by a quick dash to PizzaHut for an endemic deep crust, before returning to the hushed cages. Here they breed, protect them from introduced predators like possums and rats, and then try to release the Kiwis back into the wild. We were able to stand in the dark by a knee-high wall as they poked their beaks over the wall to sniff us, before continuing their forage for grubs in the undergrowth. Sadly, no flash photography was permitted and the only record achieved was of sharply focussed shrubs with a brown blur, as they failed to pose stationary long enough for the long shutter exposure. Nevertheless, it was a real treat to have the experience of being that close.

Talking of being that close, the earlier experience of sharing a cage with some Keas, a large and mischievous parrot-like bird, whilst listening and watching David Attenborough’s treatise on the large screen TV, was also wonderful. These are highly intelligent birds, though nearly more destructive to vehicles than the chimps in Longleat or the local car-breakers.

Finally, on the following morning, before setting out to the south of the Tongariro Range to meet Pam and Elizabeth, we took in more of the Maori culture at a village called Whakarewarewa. No, I don’t know why so many Maori place names seem to have the last syllable repeated, but now I know that the language never used to be written down and only in the last 150 years or so was it recorded by a German, who used the same phonetic pronunciation as the Germans, and the language only has 5 vowels and 9 consonants. More? No, look it up yourself! What was fascinating was the sense of community and the use of communal facilities for cooking and bathing in the naturally provided hot springs. Apparently they enjoy boiled meat too! We were treated to a short Maori stage show, which gave them a chance to go through the whole range of facial expressions, and sing a few songs that sounded very familiar. Again, it felt like we had got a good flavour of the local culture.