Sat Feb 4 (Hangi Dinner, Rotorua):

Another late, leisurely breakfast.

Most of us attended the market and even visited the library book sale and then wandered aroung town.  The parks had several small fenced-off hot springs.

In the morning, Robert headed to the luge and had a great time speeding down the mountain. And in the afternoon, he led an expedition that included the Rotorua Museum, the parks and local church.

Fran and I headed to the Polynesian Spa and lazed around their pools (3 alkaline, 3 acidic ranging from 37C to 41C) and read for a few hours. It was a peaceful setting with half the pools having  beautiful views of the lake. And there were only a handful of people even though it was Sat.  Before heading home, we visited the gift shop where we tested several of the moisturizing creams.   Great scented fun!

The main event was the hangi dinner.  We were picked up by the tour bus and almost immediately Dennis, the bus driver (who was Maori himself) started giving us information about his culture and teaching us some Maori words.  He elected one of the guys (in Maori culture, it has to be a guy), our tribe leader and taught him the hongi, the Maori greeting (left hand on the other's shoulder and then briefly touch forehead and nose, before saying "Kia Ora").

Once there, our tribal chiefs (one from each bus) were greeted by the Maori warriors who, after performing a ceremonial dance, finally offered a peace offering. Only when our leaders accepted, were we invited into the village.  There, they showed us various aspects of their lives: games, flax weaving, warrior training, etc, including how they cooked our hangi dinner (in a pit).  Then, we were invited to their meeting house where they sang, danced and gave martial demonstrations.

 
The buffet dinner was delicious.  it consisted of carrots, potatoes with balsamic vinegarette, kumera, coleslaw, chicken with cranberry sauce and lamb with gravy.  For dessert, we had sticky pudding with cream and custard, fruit salad and pavlova.  Needless to say, I stuffed myself!   The whole evening was obviously for us tourists and it may have been a little tacky, but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!  Because behind it all, it seemed the Maori were having a fun time hosting us and were genuinely gracious and generous.

It was at dinner that I learned that Terri had fallen in love with Rotorua.  Moreover, she was experiencing back pain and was afraid that further cycling would aggravate it; therefore, she'd decided to stay in Rotorua while we continued on to Auckland.  Not only that, but Robert, summoned back home by business, would be flying home the next day from Rotorua. 

So when the Maori sang their goodbye song that night, there was a special poignancy in it for us, knowing as we did that on the morrow, we would be six.