We finished our 4 days of relaxing by attending a Maori cultural event in Rotorua at Te Puia which is their sacred ground and schooling for weavers, carvers and Maori singers and dancers. Very interersting! The wood carvers come to this school as apprentices for 3 years. They are then supposed to go back to their village and pass on this tradition to the next generation. The weavings are made from NZ flax which is a wide leaved plant that reminded me of our century plants. It is abundant all over both islands. The Maoris used this plant to weave baskets, clothing, furniture and panels inside their sacred buildings called maraes. They are absolutely beautiful. Then they allowed us into the marae where they performed songs and dances in the traditional way including the haka My photos don't do justice to the haka which is their warrior dance but it was great to learn about the gestures, the facial expressions and the whole dance which was used for intimidation as well as welcoming visitors. This was followed by a hangi which is the preparation of food in an outside pit. Food was delicious!
Today we left sunny Whakatane and headed for Auckland but first we accidentlly landed in the Hobbit capital of NZ called Matamata! I have a picture of a hobbit hut somewhere!!
Anyway, this is probably it for my blog! We fly home tomorrow which is Tuesday here in NZ and we get home to the USA on Tuesday! Can't quite figure out the international dateline thing!
The trip has been great! Hope you have enjoyed the blog. It has become agood way for me to keep track on this 3 week advanture!
