Rotorua - free beer and Maori greetings

Up to Rotorua and a bit of R&R is in order. It is a large sprawling town that feels like a giant suburb - all grid systems and cafes - built upon the legacy of the thermal pools. Every campsite and hotel has a thermal pool, or you can spend $100 on hot mud packs in a trendy spa. Like everywhere in NZ, there are a million and one things to do - helicopter flights, sky diving, bungy jumping, trekking, skiing, spa-ing, you name it. So we hung out in the lounge of our campsite and read our books. We did venture out on Friday night and chose a homely looking pub with cheap beer.

To our wonder and surprise they had some thing going where in the Rugby (it was playing) if they predicted the first person to get a try (I don't know what that means but Kieran says it's a bit like getting a goal) then they'll put $1000 behind the bar. They predicted and got it right so we feel it was our duty and obligation to drink as much as we could FOR FREE!!!!!!!! We went from beer to Margaritas to G&Ts and then we suddenly thought we ought to have some supper and had to tear ourselves away from the bar (there were only about 15 people in there so we could have kept going all night!!).

We decided to try for a bit of culture in Rotorua and went on a traditional Maori Hangi (feast) and concert. At the start of the evening someone was asked to volunteer to become the "chief" for the night and represent everyone there. Of course I volunteered Kieran and much to his dismay no-one else wanted to do it so he got to be chief of our tribe! We were shown around some rainforest and saw a traditional canoe being taken up a stream, complete with ethnic dancing and singing.



In the concert Kieran was expected to be on stage for the welcoming dance which is pretty scary. Lots of huka's and scary men running round with tattoos on their faces. He picked up the token peace gesture and had to make a speech, before being given the traditional Maori welcome - heads touching. He loved it really! The Maori folk then demonstrated lots of singing and dancing and musical instruments and gave us an idea of Maori culture. It was a really interesting experience and fun too. We did feel a bit sorry for the performers though as it was freezing and they were all wearing loincloths and skimpy wraps!
Maori chief welcoming us to their tribal village.

Ah well, on to the feast where the food had been buried in a pit in the ground with fire and hot rocks to cook for a few hours and was now ready to be scoffed. No meat for El but the veggies and salads were plenty to be getting on with. All in all a lovely evening's entertainment and a great way to round up our trip.