Hello again. This is Bob, I am up very early on Thursday, March 22. Unable to sleep so I thought I would try and get caught up on the blogging. ( Here's the truth - Bob set the alarm for early and woke me up. I had to share with him that his timing was off for our trip today - now we are both up - lol). Blogging is a bigger activity than I thought it would and we are too far into it to stop now. We know it will be a good record of our holiday highlights but it does take time, especially since I do not type very fast!
Our last blog was about Zorbing. After that we headed to the south side of Rotorua to Te Puia. The city of Rotorua is smack dab in the center of a massive geothermal hot spot here in NZ. Here the smell of sulphur is noticeable, I compare it to the pulp mill smell of Port Alberni; if you live there long enough you don't notice it.
Te Puia is an incredible place and is very special to the Maori who took advantage of the area for hot mud baths and for cooking.
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| All hand carved and later in our day we saw young artists carving traditionally to keep the skill set alive. |
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| These guys kinda remind me of some the DC members (inside joke) |
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| Maori war canoe. Warriors only allowed on board |
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| This is a reconstructed Maori village to show how they lived before the arrival of the Europeans |
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| Fish drying rack |
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| Food shelter and place for villages special things. |
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| Geo thermal steam in the distance |
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| The paths were well marked and easy walking |
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| There are 6 separate geyser openings and they all blow at different times and intensity |
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| Steam pressure is building......! |
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| We happened to be there at the right moment |
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| Selfie with a geyser! |
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| All around us, as we walked we could feel the heat coming out of the ground...it was really, really hot! |
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| Guess we were too late for lunch.....darn. |
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| You really don't want to fall into any of these vents! |
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| They are saying that the smell of sulphur is "unique".....? |
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| Naomi is holding some of the silica soil created by the geothermal activity |
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| Someone has a sense of humour.... |
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| No ducks today |
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| This is only a small portion of the site and yet Rotorua is just beyond the treeline |
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| These 2 river shots are for buddy Brad. This is cool water flowing into the system and is supposed to have some large Rainbows in it.....makes me wish I had brought rod and reel |
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| This coffin sized device is the steam cooker for the restaurant at the site. I had to look twice to come to that conclusion |
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| Maori storehouse |
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| At Te Puia they had a woodcarving school that helped keep alive all the traditional Maori art and woodworking skills. They used native wood plus animal bone and different types of rock to make their tools, weapons and everyday utensils just as our First Nation aboriginals did |
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| Some examples of weapons made from wood and from stone |
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| Here is Bob and Naomi wearing traditional Maori clothing.....darn photographer couldn't get it right...he cut our heads off Again! |
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| Some more samples of the student's woodwork. At this point my camera battery was dying so I can not show more pictures of the incredible carvings and of the school itself. |
Once we were done we headed back to our iffy lodging and decided to walk into town to eat (20 minute walk). We ate at an Irish Pub and met Shel, a lady travelling on her own. We had a great time with her listening to her life stories... which included things like the police in Winnipeg when she was young and working in Canada oblivious to some of the working laws, hence the police involvement. She was born in NZ but lives in Australia and is back visiting her father who is now in a nursing home. Thank you Shel, we had a wonderful time with you!
That's it for this blog. The next one features NZ's national feathered treasure, the Kiwi bird.
Cheers!
Written by Bob and edited by Naomi (who always seems to take out my "good" stuff!)
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