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| Shelby enjoying the Duck Tour |
What a blessing to have woken up to such magnificent beauty on our first morning in Rotorua. We went to watch the sunrise after breakfast, so fascinated by the scene and nature in its entirety, the smell, for a moment, seemed to dissapear.It felt so unreal, it was misty and foggy, really making you utilize all your senses to take in the scene instead of just your eyes, which were hindered by mist. There were exotic birds everywhere too, like the Pokiko...which to me resembles something like an exotic chicken. The birds blended beautifully into their natural environment, all of it together, the sounds of their flapping wings, their chirps and squawks, splashes, all of it together was harmonious. Nature working as one. As we were done marveling over this rare beauty, it left as quickly as it arrived, and that meant it was time for our Duck Tour! We got to ride in an old WW1 model type of vehicle, we quacked at just about every person "fortuna
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| Duck tour on Lake Rotorua |
te" enough to pass by or for us to pass by to grace them with our cacophony of sound. We continued on to Lake Rotorua, it felt like we in Jurassic Park it was so bizarre, you couldn't see 10 feet in front of you , and it one point it felt like at ant moment a dinosaur would come charging out of the forest or water and attack us. Our tour guide was awesome enough to play a spy theme song as we slowly descended into the water, it was one of the most epic moments of my life...The views were beautiful, the way these houses were embedded in the mountain, and the mist swirled around them. The Duck Tour ended by dropping us off at a village named Whakarewarewa, we definitely had a good time trying to pronounce it, and our super sweet tour guide taught us how to say it,of course when he say it in his Maori tongue, it sounded melodious, like music. Then, we learned we could just call it Whaka village for short. Way back when, it was actually a place where Maori warriors would gather and have meetings before a battle! The Maori is beautiful, and so is its culture. In the village, we learned so much about the Maori lifestyle, they have beautiful thermal springs, and geysers, and mud pools. Two times a day (am/pm) they can sit in the thermal pools (which are therapeautic) and watch as the sun rises or sets...they all look so youthful...They showed us their traditional way of cooking - in the steam under the ground, the shellfish only take 30 seconds. Later, we were lucky enough to experience a Hangi dinner! The food was simply INCREDIBLE, potatoes, rice, bread, curry, pasta, noodles, and the dessert...pavlova, brownie and custard...it was heaven on a plate. The performers did the Haka for us and sang beautiful Maori love songs to. The women did the poi dance and we got a chance to attempt it gracefully...let's just say it's a lot harder than it looks.
Today was culturally awakening and we got to learn about the Maori influence on New Zealand, it's history and where it stands today. The Maori have been very good at preserving. Preserving values, traditions, stories, lifestyle, language, structure, villages, they have a strong connection with their roots, where they come from, and who they are. They know its important for children to grow up with a strong sense of culture, so they, too, will want to preserve and protect it when they are older, so they strengthen that through song, dance, games, food when they are young. The Maori are a very accepting and kind culture, this shows their Hongi tradition, a nose and forehead touch and shaking of the hand, symbolizing acceptance and bonding of the soul. They were extremely kind to allow us into their village today and show us their exclusive, preserved lifestyle. This can be related to where Hawaii stands in the U.S, for the most part we all love Hawaiian culture, it's part of our country, but still feels foreign and exotic, probably due to it's preserves environment and culture, we accept them, they accept us. If they weren't as small and separated from the mass geography of the U.S, I'm sure we'd be much closer and embrace their culture. But, the difference between Maori and Hawiian culture is that in New Zealand they fully embrace their Maori culture, under every sign's english name is it's Maori name. What have we done/are we doing for Hawaii? Tearing down mountains, villages, trees to build...skyscrapers and make it a feigned tourist population. That's not embracing a culture, that's destroying it. Everyone should be able to experience the Maori culture, it's beautiful and will provide a new perspective on your own culture.
te" enough to pass by or for us to pass by to grace them with our cacophony of sound. We continued on to Lake Rotorua, it felt like we in Jurassic Park it was so bizarre, you couldn't see 10 feet in front of you , and it one point it felt like at ant moment a dinosaur would come charging out of the forest or water and attack us. Our tour guide was awesome enough to play a spy theme song as we slowly descended into the water, it was one of the most epic moments of my life...The views were beautiful, the way these houses were embedded in the mountain, and the mist swirled around them. The Duck Tour ended by dropping us off at a village named Whakarewarewa, we definitely had a good time trying to pronounce it, and our super sweet tour guide taught us how to say it,of course when he say it in his Maori tongue, it sounded melodious, like music. Then, we learned we could just call it Whaka village for short. Way back when, it was actually a place where Maori warriors would gather and have meetings before a battle! The Maori is beautiful, and so is its culture. In the village, we learned so much about the Maori lifestyle, they have beautiful thermal springs, and geysers, and mud pools. Two times a day (am/pm) they can sit in the thermal pools (which are therapeautic) and watch as the sun rises or sets...they all look so youthful...They showed us their traditional way of cooking - in the steam under the ground, the shellfish only take 30 seconds. Later, we were lucky enough to experience a Hangi dinner! The food was simply INCREDIBLE, potatoes, rice, bread, curry, pasta, noodles, and the dessert...pavlova, brownie and custard...it was heaven on a plate. The performers did the Haka for us and sang beautiful Maori love songs to. The women did the poi dance and we got a chance to attempt it gracefully...let's just say it's a lot harder than it looks.
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