New Zealand Part 3 - Rotorua

    Rotorua was one of the more interesting places we visited. Now, that is simply my opinion, and it  probably has a lot to do with my odd love of geology. You see, Rotorua sits in the center of a huge caldera, which is to say it's sitting in the center of a collapsed volcano. Because of this, there is geothermal activity all over the place - hot springs, boiling mud pools, and geysers too!
    We visited several tourist type attractions, which I will get to later, but I think my favorite thing about the place was just the nature of the city itself. Imagine a place that smells (quite strongly) of sulfur. Imagine walking through a cute little grassy park, but being surrounded by signs warning you to stay on the paths because otherwise you may fall prey to injury from a steam vent or some other such thing. It's crazy! I dug it.
    Anyways, on to the more specific destinations (all arranged by J's family). First was a visit to Te Puia NZ Maori Arts & Crafts Institute. While places like these are very touristy (probably the equivalent to most luaus in Hawaii, if I had to guess), they still serve as an interesting peek into NZ's native culture/traditions. A ticket comes complete with a guided tour of the grounds, as well as a cultural performance. If you're lucky enough to get tickets for the Te Po before they sell out, they also provide a nighttime experience which includes cultural performances and also comes with a Maori feast called a "hangi".

Just try and pronounce that name there... I dare ya!

Whose shoes are whose?

     We arrived in the late morning and met up for a tour of the thermal valley. Following the path, we passed by several cool geothermal features. The first of these were the mud pools. You can't quite tell in photographs, but it essentially looks like a lake of boiling mud. There are dozens of lumps and mounds of mud that are essentially steam dried at the bottom, but liquid and bubbling at the peaks.

Mud pools - lots of bubbles and lots of steam.

Close up of one of the bubbling vents.

   The next feature is probably their most impressive, and that is their geysers. Unfortunately, the largest and most famous of these geysers, the Pohutu Geyser (apparently the largest in the southern hemisphere reaching up to 30 meters high!) decided not to go off while we were there. But the smaller Prince of Wales Feathers geyser, decided to put on a show and just wouldn't quit!

Prince of Wales Feathers Geyser

    We had tickets for a specific time slot for the cultural performance, so we didn't get to see the rest of the grounds (I'm still a little sad about this). We met outside the Maori village and waited for the guide who would take us inside. Before we could enter the village, the guide explained, we would first have to participate in a sort of welcome ceremony (similar to how a host tribe would interact with a visiting tribe to root out their intentions- peaceful or aggressive). She chose a representative who would act as our tribe leader of sorts. How this ceremony works is, the hosting leader would walk forward and place a silver fern leaf before the visitor. If the visiting leader picks up the fern, it's a sign of peace, and they will then be welcomed as guests.

    So, after playing out this tradition, we were all welcomed inside for the performance. This included a traditional stick game (passing batons in time to the song's rhythm) as well as the Haka (a warrior's challenge). To anyone who has never seen the Haka before, I highly recommend looking it up on youtube, and specifically, I'd recommend looking up the All Blacks Haka (NZ rugby team- they do the Haka before every match!).

    After the cultural performances, we took a quick look around the wood carving school, where we got to see a carver working on a huge carving that spanned the length of the room. I took a bunch of photographs of carvings around the grounds. We also got to look at their Greenstone carving display, which included a huge block of jade (one of the largest I've seen). Greenstone jewelry is one of those items that can be found in just about every shop around NZ, and there is a lot of variety to be found. It is also fairly expensive, costing somewhere around $50nz for the smaller pieces and upwards of several hundred for larger pieces and those with elaborate carvings. I had originally wanted to get one such necklace for my sister, but with the prices being fairly high, and me not knowing exactly what my sister would like, I went with a carved bone necklace instead (also very popular).

    We spent a minimal amount of time in the gift shop (J pretty much dragged me out), and then headed off to our next stop: Rainbow Springs. Now, if I had to summarize Rainbow Springs in as few words as possible, I would probably say it's a bird zoo. There is a water ride near the back of the park, and several native lizards and fish, but it is still mostly bird-centric. The first stop made was to the Kiwi Experience.

    Now, as you may or may not already know, kiwis are nocturnal birds. They are also endangered. So, when you go into a kiwi enclosure, don't think you're guaranteed to see one. These enclosures are typically large rooms that are kept dark with only minimal lighting - this is to trick the birds into thinking that it is nighttime so that they come out of their nests. Still, it is very dark, so it can be hard to spot them unless they are moving. Now, unfortunately, they don't allow cameras in these enclosures, due to the kiwi's sensitivity to light and sound, so I don't have proof... but, I did, in fact, see a kiwi! We actually saw three of them. And they are just as awkward as you'd expect. Hunched over on their beefy legs with their teensy wings folded close to their bodies and their long beaks plucking food from the ground. They almost don't look real.. more like small rugby balls with legs.

No, these aren't real live kiwis.. they are real stuffed though.

    Other birds featured here are several species of parrot, this crazy cockatoo, a kea named Jenny, a kaka, a tui, and a huge pigeon. While I took pictures of pretty much all of them, I'll be kind and only post a few of my favorites.

Apparently, giant kiwi birds play rugby in their spare time.

J made a friend! This is Jenny the Kea.

 (left: Kea - right: Tui) (fun fact: Tui's make really interesting sounds. They kind of sound like R2D2. Don't believe me? Check youtube, they're pretty crazy!)

 (left: can't remember, but some sort of parrot - right:  NZ Kingfisher)

Apparently, these little guys have been around since prehistoric times. 

J & The Moa - an extinct species - huge and flightless.
Think - ostrich, but much bigger. This one was made of concrete.

    Rainbow Springs was definitely fun for taking photos, and I probably could have stayed longer, but dinnertime was approaching and it was time to go. Back to Tauranga, dinner, drinks, and our gorgeous view of Mount Maunganui and yet another cruise ship departing at sunset. It was a fun, full day.

PS: I am not posting all of my photographs here. I will eventually be posting more photographs from NZ on my photography website (link at the top of the page)!