Some Maori culture - Rotorua

The geothermals we had just been exploring were put to good use in the Whakarewarewa Thermal Village. The Maori people living in the village utilize the underground hot water and steam for cooking, bathing and heating their homes when needed.

 

 

 

The tour guide's cousin is retrieving lunch from the steam box heated by the underground thermals.

 

 

 

The bubbling hot water is channelled into bathing pools. The community comes down in the early morning or evening to enjoy a soak. The waters are reputed to have healing powers, even for such things as arthritis.

 

 

 

The village tour included a traditional Maori performance. They performed a stick dance/game, women's poi-poi dance, traditional songs and the haka.

 

 

 

Some of the statues were more lifelike than others.

 

In the evening we went to the Mitai Village for a hangi and cultural performance.

 

 

 

The warriors arrived in the traditional waka, a war canoe.

 

 

 

The chief accepted greetings from the tribe of many nations (all us tourists).

 

 

 

The men performed a spear dance.

 

 

 

The music and the dancing were quite captivating.

 

 

 

Dinner was delicious! The food was steamed in the traditional way.

 

 

 

These warriors were particularly fierce!

 

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Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble

There's something hard at work underfoot in the centre of the North Island. Volcanic and geothermal activity has played a large role in this area's landscape, providing all sorts of interesting sights for us as we toured around. Our first stop was the Orakei Korako Cave and Thermal Park.

 

 

This was The Devil's Throat. We didn't want to stick around long enough to see if it said anything.

 

 

 

The Artist's Pallet. Minerals in the ground produce the various colours; sulphur - yellow, copper - green, iron - orange. It's very cool watching the colours ooze and flow together.

 

 

Hot mud bath anyone?

 

We were fascinated by all this geothermal activity and carried on to The Waiotapu Thermal Wonderland.

 

 

The Champagne Pool, New Zealand's largest bubbling pool.

 

 

 

An amazing colour!

 

 

Lady Knox Geyser revving up.

 

 

And thar she blows!

 

All that hot water does make for some great spa relaxation. We stopped in at De Brett's Spa Resort for a soak.

 

A Maori entrance to the private pools.

 

 

Mal having a soak in his own private bath.

 

 

The general public pools were pretty nice too. A perfect end to a perfect day.

 

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Lake Matheson, Franz Joseph Glacier and Pancake Rocks

After two days in cloud and rain showers while visiting Fox Glacier, typical weather for the west coast of the South Island, we decided it was time to move on. On our third morning we woke up to sunny skies and we could see all the awesome mountains around us.

We made tracks for nearby Matheson Lake. Here we took the walking track around the lake to viewpoints where we could see Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman reflected in the lake. This is a rare opportunity as you need to have a day where the mountains are clear of cloud and no wind so that you can get a relectiion.

A rather breathtaking scene on the South Island !

 

We continued our journey a short distance north up to Franz Josef Glacier. Again we took the opportunity to stop and have a look as the skies were clear enough for a view. We walked a short, steep track to get a good view of the glacier.

 

 

Pancake Rocks was an interesting stop on our west coast drive toward Westport. Here the rock is layered limestone. Erosion from the waters of the Tasman Sea create interesting shapes.

 

 

 

Can you see the lion, fish, face and octopus in the picture below? You've got to have some imagination!

 

We are heading toward the ferry and making our way back to the North Island. We will be visiting some interesting geothermal sites as well as learning more about the Maori culture.

 

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Fox Glacier

Today we took a guided day hike up on to Fox Glacier. This glacier is one of three in the world that runs down to a rain forest. On the way to the glacier you drive through a thick forest of ferns and beech trees. The vegetation quickly changes to smaller plants and shrubs and then the glacier is revealed. Even though it was a cloudy day the glacier was still pretty impressive.

 

 

 

 

We geared up in rain coats, overpants, hiking boots and crampons, all supplied by the tour company. Yes, we were wondering what the heck we were doing. We came to the southern hemisphere to get away from the ice and snow and here we are tramping around on a glacier!

 

 

We followed our guide, Scott up the ice staircase which he carved out with his ice pick.

 

 

 

 

We hiked up the glacier and were led to an ice tunnel. This one is a compression tunnel. The ice is being pushed up as the glacier is moving along the side of the mountain.

 

 

 

Mal climbed down into an ice cave.

 

 

At the bottom the melt water flows out under the glacier. That cave has some major cracks and looks as if it will soon collapse. The water under the glacier and of course gravity are moving the glacier down the valley.

 

 

A great day on the glacier. Tomorrow we move on to explore 'pancake rocks' and sites further north.

 

 

 

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Queenstown

Queenstown sits at the head of the lake in Wakatipu basin. This basin was carved out by glaciers leaving behind the rounded hills and the lake at the bottom. It is an absolutely stunning area. The town itself is very touristy but once we got out into the surrounding area we really loved the place.

 

 

Queenstown is the extreme sports capital of NZ. You can sign up for anyting from bungi jumping to jumping out of airplanes or off cliffs. There's lots to do on the water, too. We opted out of jet ski aerobatics and went on a cruise across Wakatipu Lake.

 

The small waterfront area is lined with boats of all description. We went on the TTSS Earnslaw, an old steam engine boat that has been working up and down this lake since the 1800s. It was originally set up to service the isolated sheep stations at the far end of the lake hauling supplies and stock. Now it entertains the tourists.

 

 

Two happy tourists. What a gorgeous day.

 

 

Heading into dock at the station. Once on shore we were treated to a delicious Bar-B-Que on the patio at the front of the house overlooking the lake.

 

We are herded over to the sheep shearing shed for a demonstration.

 

 

Gordon gets it done in no time all the while explaining what he is doing. Amazingly once Gordon had the sheep off its feet, it just sat there and got clipped with no complaints.

 

 

He gets the wool off in one blanket. We were invited to touch the wool. It was soft but also quite oily.

 

 

 

The sheep dog demonstration was awesome. These dogs are so well trained and seem to love what they do. Some of the dogs are trained to snarl and bark and bring the sheep in and they do it all with verbal commands and signals from the shepherd.

 

 

This dog stayed at Gordon's side until he was given the command to do his job, which is to send the sheep away. The shepherd uses both of these types of dogs to herd sheep. When the dogs are finished, the shepherd gives the command, "That'll do."

 

 

This station had other animals too including cattle and llamas. We were most surprised that in NZ they also farm deer and they had a herd of them in the paddock. Most are does, but we were quite taken with this big buck.

 

 

 

We couldn't be in Quenstown and not do something to get the adrenaline flowing so in the afternoon we booked in for a jet boat excursion on the Shotover River. The river ride was the least of our worries. We loaded onto the bus for the hour long drive into Skippers Canyon on an old dirt track similar to the logging roads we have in BC. The road was carved out of the side of the canyon and only wide enough for one vehicle, which proved interesting a couple of times, with steep walls up one side and drops offs on the other. At times it looked as though he had a clearance of one foot on the drop off side. That'll pucker the buttock muscles.

 

We arrive at the river safely even though it was the bus drivers first day on the job. Haha! Not funny, Mr. bus driver. Ben shows up with the jet boat.

 

Geared up for the adventure.

 

 

The boat flirts with the canyon walls, squeaks through rock outcroppings and spins 360's. Basically scares the crap out of you while you hang on for dear life. No time to think that no one has died since the last time this trip went out.

 

It all looks so tame from this view.

 

 

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