For my brief time off this week, I decided to head to Rotorua with my new Swiss friend, Marcus, (yep, third time to Rotorua! I just can’t stay away apparently!) where we visited a Maori Village called Matai and enjoyed a very touristy, albeit relatively authentic Maori cultural evening!
As part of the Maori cultural event, we were ushered into an outdoor theater to watch a Maori show. There were women and men clad in traditional Maori dress – which, during the winter, doesn’t cover much… And, they were all barefoot! Crazy… But, the show itself was really interesting. We learn several Maori words and phrases, they explained some of the rituals of the Maori culture, the weapons used, instruments, and games played. The women did an incredible rhythmic dance with the Pui and the men danced a Huka which is a dance done to intimidate an enemy before a fight. Both are SO COOL!! Definitely, my favorite part of Maori culture. I could watch it for hours. But, the dances, especially the Huka, are filled with so much energy, passion, and sweat that the performers are completely exhausted afterwards. They really put everything they have into the dance – slapping their chests and thighs, their eyes bulging and their tongues plastered to their chin and coming to a sharpened point. It is certainly an intimidating dance! In New Zealand Rugby, the NZ team (such as the “All Blacks”) perform the Huka before the start of the game. I honestly think it might give them a bit of an edge over their competitor because of the wild and threatening manner in which they perform the dance. I wouldn’t want to fight one of them after seeing that! Plus, most of the Maori men are BIG. And I mean BIG in every sense of the word. Really, really big…
Another highlight of the evening was visiting the after-dark Kiwi Sanctuary at Rainbow Springs. This was the first time I had ever seen a real live Kiwi bird! They are much bigger then I thought they would be! Like, the size (and kinda the shape) of a rugby ball. And, they are so cute! Long, thin beaks and fat, fluffy, brown bodies. And big feet, like a chicken! I tried taking a few photos, but since it was so dark, they didn’t turn out much at all.
Most of our group had left the Kiwi Sanctuary and have moved on for the rest of the tour, but Marcus, me, and this other dude had stayed back to watch this one particular Kiwi a bit longer. It was so close I could have touched it! Then, one of the Kiwi Keepers came in to the sanctuary and said he’d try to encourage the Kiwi into the light so we could take a better picture. Amazingly, the Kiwi responded to this Keeper so easily! He literally followed him to the other side of the pen when the Keeper called his name. When the man came back into the sanctuary, I looked at him in awe and asked, “How did you do that!? That was incredible!” At this point, the Kiwi was actually nuzzling the Keeper’s hand, and he was petting the Kiwi back. Now, this might not sound too remarkable, but the Keeper went on to tell us that this particular Kiwi had chosen him as his Keeper and was the only Kiwi bird that they knew of who would allow human contact. And the Keeper was the only person the Kiwi would be pet by! A pretty big honor for the Keeper, that’s for sure. I dubbed the Keeper “The Kiwi Whisperer” because of his unique talent. So, besides just glimpsing the Kiwi’s we got to witness something pretty remarkable! So cool!!
On the route back to Taupo from Rotorua, Marcus and I visited Wai-O-Taou Thermal Wonderland, a national park of New Zealand. There are several steaming pools and incredibly vibrant colors that the different organic minerals produce. The variation amongst the sulphur pools, rocks, and water is really impressive! And, of course, there is so much to photograph! So, Marcus and I (two lovers of photography) had a grand time snapping photos around every corner. :-)
I love the story of the kiwi whisperer...pretty cool for you to be able to witness that. Great photos! What an amazing place!
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