In Rotorua, a town famous for its natural hot springs and Maori culture, we went to see a Maori
cultural experience evening.We heard interesting explanations about the old legends and spirits and about customs and rituals. There was also Maori dancing with the famous Haka at the end (and one performed by the crowd). One of the highlights was a Hangi dinner. A traditional way of cooking food on hot coal under the ground. Since both Anita and I had been fasting for 25 hours we were starving and it was a brilliant way to end the fast. We ended the tour with hot chocolate and the exploding geyser outside.
The next day we ventured West to Waitomo to see glowworms. These are odd maggets that have a small green light in their butts which shines in the dark. We walked in two caves, one with interesting formations and the other with the glowworms. Once our eyes got used to the darkness it was like going to the planetarium. The entire cave was lit with tiny green dots (unfortunately we don't have any nice pictures besides the view outside the caves, so you will have to use your imagination).We left Rotorua after doing a downhill luge, another one of the strange activities one finds here, and a relaxing visit to the Polynesian Spa where we sat (again) like shrimp in hot smelly pools.
Our next stop was Taupo and we were positively surprised to discover that enough snow has melted in the mountains so that we would be able to do the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. This is a hard one day trek (around 18 km) in the mountains which are famous from Lord of the Rings (mt. Mordor). We got all our warm clothes ready, rented some funny-looking fleece trousers and got on the bus. The hike was not easy. A few sections were very steep and windy but the views were great. Having snow obviously made the trek a lot
harder. Some parts were quite deep, but it also added so much to the scenery. On the way down we slid on our butts on one slope (shortcut!) and arrived, exhausted and happy at the bottom, just in time for the bus back to the city.
In the evening we celebrated our day with some other people we met on the hike and had a long
and silly night sampling local wine and relaxing our muscles.Mysteriously enough, although there are no dangerous creatures in this country, Anita's hand
was as swollen as a tennis ball, after having been bitten by something 2 days ago. Because we wanted to go canoeing and needed Anita's grip we went to the doctor and got her some pills. The pills did wonders and her hand returned to normal proportions (with some 'extra skin' hanging). So, all fit, we decided to do a 3 day Canoe trip in the Whanganui river. Florian, who we met on the crossing, joined us as our rescue Kayak.
On this river trip we were joined by a nice Swiss couple (we are practising our Swiss German!) and we all rowed down the mostly quite river with all our equipment in big blue barrels on board.Although no experience is required, there were a few rapids that required some serious rowing and coordination. Anita was in charge of identifying obstacles and I was in charge of steering and providing support and reassurance that we will not flip over. Florian, however was not that lucky and he capsized and had to finish the rest of the day wet and cold. The last day provided us an encounter with the jet boat. These big motored boats fly up the river with tourists creating huge waves. Every time we heard a bit of noise we rowed frantically to the banks of the river to hide. But the last picture proves that we finished the tour with a smile.
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