Te Puia is the shortened version of Whakarewarewa Thermal Village just on the way out of Rotorua. We spent an hour and a half there with a great interpreter, Carla. She explained so much about Maori village structure, how the different tribes arrived in New Zealand and where they were from originally. This village was always the home land of her tribe, (shark in English) who originally came from Tahiti. They considered themselves very lucky to end up with this land with hot and cold running water!!! There are geysers and mud pools throughout their village land and they have been able to capitalize on tourism ever since they came and so have always been self sustaining.
An important part of this centre is the wood carving school where students are taken in as apprentices for two years, and taught to be carving instructors, with the understanding they will return to their own villages to pass on the skills.
Weaving flax is a very important craft for the Maori. They grow the flax commercially. It is used for weaving baskets, making ceremonial skirts and costumes, clothing, many different things. There's also a weaving school here.
This geyser goes "off" about once an hour and does its thing for 20 minutes then is quiet until the next time. It has its own schedule so when it's starts to go tourists rush to the fence to watch.
Boiling mud flats. Wish we could have included the sound with this photo!
We left after an attempt to visit with 2 kiwi birds who live in a special building that visitors can enter. They did not think we were interesting enough to poke their heads out of their hiding places. The house is quite dark inside as they are nocturnal birds. No luck today for us. Apparently they are not easy to see out in the wild or in captivity. They do not fly but walk around in the undergrowth much the same color.
Our bus took us down to Tongariro National Park to our hotel, the Chateau. Dorothy told us it was faded grandeur but we thought it quite lovely - except for the Internet!! We got there just after five and had until 7 (till dinner time) to get organized to leave at 7:30 tomorrow morning for our big hike.
Dinner was very good and quite elegant, but took a very long time to arrive at our table.
Judy and I both had the wild boar and venison pate for starters while Wendy had the shrimp. Both delicious.
Main course was pork with bacon. Very nice.
But of course my favorite part was dessert - a lemon brûlée pie. It was heavenly.
Tomorrow the big hike. Stayed tuned!!
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