Rotorua is a major centre for Maori culture so whilst we were there we decided to visit the Te Puia Moari Arts and Crafts Institute. Here they teach traditional Maori arts such as wood carving and weaving, and have a replica Maori village. The centre is also set in a thermal valley, with hot mud pools and the famous Pohutu Geyser, which means "big splash" in Maori. We had a guided tour with a great Maori lady who told us Maori stories and explained some of their beliefs and rituals. At the entrance to the centre are several huge, intricate wood carvings of some of the main Maori gods, an impressive welcome.
During our tour we were lucky enough to arrive at the Geyser just as it was erupting. It was a pretty windy day and every so often we got soaked with surpisingly cold water, it obviously doesn't take long for it to cool down!
We also watched a Maori show with a traditional Maori welcome (slightly alarming!) and songs and dances, including the haka war dance (even scarier!).
That evening we swapped our Hyundai Getz for a horrific Kia with the worst gear box either of us have ever had the "pleasure" to drive......not being able to find 1st or 2nd gear when pulling out at a roundabout not the most ideal situation. We decided to stick with it and the next day headed for Whakatane on the Bay of Plenty. We had been told by one of our lifts that a trip to White Island, off the coast of the Bay of Plenty, was well worth a trip. It is New Zealand's only active marine volcano. However, with prices starting at $185pp we decided to give it a miss! This being our only reason for visiting Whakatane, we returned to our horrible Kia to drive further along the coast....only it wouldn't start. Unfortunately one of us (no naming names) had left the lights on whilst we wandered round Whakatane and the battery was flat. John commandeered the help of some locals in a bar and we tried bump-starting it with no luck. Eventually one of the guys brought his car round and we managed to jump-start it. We kangarooed off down the road, shoving the gear stick in the direction of 2nd gear, and decided to return to Rotorua to swap it after discovering it had a leak and water was cascading into both the passanger seat well and the boot.
Armed with yet another car, this time a Daihatsu Sirion, we drove to Tauranga....another town on the Bay of Plenty. By this point it was pouring with rain so we stopped at a random motel (with a hot thermal pool). After a quick soak we followed the landlady's advice and drove down the road to the all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet!
The next day we drove to Mount Manganui, a town on the coast close to Tauranga with a beautiful beach. We climbed Mauao, an extinct volcano which rises in a cone shape above the toewn and has great views over the surrounding area and then settled on the beach afterwards for an afternoon of sunbathing & watching the surfers in the sun.
We drove on to Katikati, a small town at the western end of the Bay of Plenty close to the beginning of the Coromandel Peninsula and the next day we drove onto the peninsula itself, stopping at Waihi to see the working gold mine situated in the town.
We stopped for a picnic on the beach
before stopping at a campsite at Hahei beach for the night.
The next day we walked along the clifftops to Cathedral cove. A fine walk along the cliff edge was rewarded with a lovely white-sand beach and a natural rock archway....the Cathedral. Getting to the beach on the other side of the archway required splashing through the frigid waves. Now aware of just how cold the water was along this coast, we turned round and headed back to the car.
From here we took a circuitous but scenic route back to Tauranga along the famous winding and mostly gravel 309 road on the Coromandel Peninsula. The decision to return to Tauranga was based partly on an all you can eat Chinese buffet and partly on the presence of hot spa pools at our planned accomodation!
As the holiday park in Tauranga was in such a nice location, Sarah decided to stay here whilst John visited Waitomo Caves,nothing to do with claustrophobia you understand. The caves were well worth a visit and the guided trip took you down deep into the caves and included a boat trip on a subterrainean lake with millions of twinkling glow worms above you. Whilst visually very pleasing, the lifecycle of a glow worm seemed rather pointless....the insect that produces the glow worm larvae never leaves the caves and after pupation from the glow worm, it flies around laying many eggs on the roof of the cave before effentually being caught in the silken threads of the glow worm larvae and eaten....hmm,, intelligent design? John returned from the caves the next day to find Sarah still sat in a hot pool!
From Tauranga we returned our hire car to Rotorua, made a brief stop to buy a Maori wood carving from Te Puia and caught the bus to Auckland airport. After a night at a cheap airport hotel, we found ourselves on a plane bound for LA.
