Rotorua

Well we certainly had a good day today.  After listening to noisy screeching kids until gone 9.30 last night and being woken up at 7am with noisy screeching kids we asked to be moved and the camp manager was most apologetic and immediately gave us a much quieter spot.  We are now overlooking big grassy areas and bathed in sunshine all day.  After this move we went to the geyser at Te Puia Maori Village.  We were firstly entertained by Maori warriors who gave us a fine display of their cultural dancing including the Haka.  Some of the songs were familiar and it turns out that Maori first came from Tahiti, Hawaii, and other parts of Indonesia.

We then went on a guided walk and saw carving and weaving.  The next part was the geysers.  What a great sight.  They were gushing out water and steam and around were mud pools bubbling away.  The only thing was it smelt like rotten eggs in places..The whole of the village area in based on a volcanic crater area (not in working order thank goodness, although only dormant..) It showed how they cooked their food on the steam and in earlier years used the lakes to wash in.  Nothing was still there, quite awesome.  We went off on our own to explore and found many other little steam holes and mud holes just bubbling away.

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and tomorrow we are going to visit a buried village and the Lake Rotorua where there is a dormant volcano in the middle.  We are also hoping to take a skyride to see the area from above.  Lets hope this warm weather continues.  Sorry to keep mentioning the weather when its freezing at home.  What a way to spend the winter and then come back in spring. Cant be bad can it?