For a more in-depth travel diary, see Katja's LiveJournal
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This is a modern version of the traditional hangi oven. The Maori steam cook a lot of food in pits in the ground, but the hotels have to use stainless steel for hygiene and health reasons. They use geothermal steam. |
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A so-called "cultural performance". First you eat a hangi-cooked buffet and then you watch the Maoris dance. They pick out three "volunteers" from the audience which they teach to do the Haka, war dance with protruding tongues and everything. Neat. |
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Look, a real Maori! Actually, he was just half Maori, but that counts according to him. He could stick his tongue out and roll his eyes, and that is good enough for me :-) No one has the facial tattoos anymore, but the tattos have moved further down the body. A lot of the New Zealanders, not just Maoris, sport tattoos. |
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Countdown. 2... |
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... 1... |
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... Geyser! The Pohutu geyser bursts once every half hour or so and reaches 30m in height. |
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Unfortunately the smell camera has not been invented yet, so we cannot share the lovely sulphur smell with you, which you cannot miss when you draw near Rotorua. |
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Do not use this mud in a facial, it is boiling hot! Everywhere mud spurts up from the mud pools in interesting formations. Some look like frogs, some leave volcano-like debris. |
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The grounds are not engineer-proof. |
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This pool of boiling water is still used by the Maori to boil food in for special fiests in the village. The black rim is made of sinter, so this is an alchalic pool. Most of the other pools are acidic. |