Rotorua, NZ

Because of our delay in Queenstown, we only had one night in Rotorua instead of two. So we tried to pack what we could in our short time there. We walked around some of the geothermal pools and peeked in at the Bath House and Museum before we headed out to our Maori village cultural experience.

We really enjoyed going on the Tamaki Village show. They bussed us to the location of the village, and they entertained us on the bus ride by having us pick a tribe leader. When we got to the village the tribe leaders stood out in front while the Maori warriors came and danced in front of them to see if we were friendly or not. Once we were welcomed into the village we were able to go to different huts to see demonstrations of dances, games, and explanations of the native practices. Then we got to see our dinner cooking in the earth pit. While we waited for our dinner to be ready we went into the meeting house to watch some native dances, and a video on the Maori people. Then it was time to enjoy our wonderful dinner.