Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari and Te Puia

OMG I completely forgot I hadn't posted the second half of our road trip already!  Oops!

After Hobbiton, it was only 11am and our next tour wasn't scheduled to start until 4pm, so we took a detour to Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari.

The drive was beautiful:

Cows:

We got a little lost on the way because they closed a main road we were supposed to take and the GPS kept trying to get us back on it (so 45 minutes turned into 2 hours), but we finally made it:

Except now we only have about an hour to spare before heading back on the road to make it for our next tour.  We bought our tickets here ($16/each!  Way too expensive!):

The sanctuary is completely fenced off to protect the plant and wildlife from predators and you need a special keycard to enter (it's like the forest version of the Pentagon):

We only had time to walk to the Viewing Tower and back:

Here's the viewing tower:

View from the top (I was on the verge of collapse at this point, me and stairs are not friendly):

Ohhh.  Ahhh.  

Then we just walked back.

So, we've done enough nature hikes/forest walks/rainforest treks now to be able to say definitively that this was way overpriced.  It was a nice little forest, but in total we saw trees, some plants and 2 birds.  Maybe if we had more time to walk deeper into the forest we would have seen more, but in my book this was not worth it at all.  At least we got our exercise for the day (damn you, stairs!!!).

Back in the car and on our way to the town of Rotorua (about an hour and a half) to get to Te Puia.

Check out this bird eating a grasshopper:

We were about half an hour early, so we got a snack and waited for our tour.

Our guide was a Maori woman who taught us some Maori words and proceeded to take us on a tour of the grounds, while teaching us about her culture.

Check this bad boy out:

She taught us how to say it, but I forgot immediately after.

Being in New Zealand for 2 weeks now, here's what I've put together about The Maori (Disclaimer: this is not an official story): The Maori people are basically the Native Americans of New Zealand.  They showed up first, claimed this land and lived happily until the white man stole all their hopes and dreams (The British).  War and carnage ensued until eventually the Maori were forced to give in and share their land.  Hundreds of years later, they coexist just fine.  The end!  Now, let's go on our tour!
  First stop, the Pohutu Geyser:

The geyser was dying down, so hopefully we get a chance to see it later.  In case you're interested:

Mud pits:

Maori Cemetery:

Steambox ovens are used for cooking:

Kiwi house:

We got to go in and see a couple Kiwis (the official bird of New Zealand), but they're nocturnal, so it was extremely dark inside and we couldn't take pictures.  They're about the size of large chickens with really long beaks.  Super cute!

Models of Maori houses:

They Maori would have large families, so there could be 20 people in one household.

Food storage up high to deter animals:

Silver fern:

The silver fern is green on top and silver underneath.  The fern is in a lot of their designs because it's a symbol of home for them.  The story was something like: when they would go away for long journeys (hunting, etc.), they would turn over the leaves of the silver ferns they passed, so on their return journey they could find their way home.  Sort of like leaving a trail of breadcrumbs, except way better because no one's going to eat their silver fern trail.  As I said, you see the fern design in a lot of Maori crafts, so it's really nice to finally know the meaning.

This is a 57 foot long canoe carved using only traditional Maori tools (no modern technology, except paint and whatever's propping it up):

She explained to us The Maori story of the creation of Earth and it was tragically beautiful.  I would never be able to recite it, but I really loved it.  Okay, I'll try: there's a Sky Father and an Earth Mother and they're embracing each other.  Their sons live in the darkness between them and dream of seeing the light.  They come up with plans to push them apart, but none of them work until they're son Tane eventually does it.  He pushed Sky Father up off of Earth Mother and they're devastated.  Sky Father cries (rain) and Earth Mother strains to reach him (earthquakes?).  All their children are the Gods of something or other: the God of winds and storms, the God of food, Tane was the God of forests, etc. and all the children suffer different repercussions from tearing their parents apart, resulting in the world being the way it is today.

She also explained that all Maori people came from Hawaii and the Pacific Islands (makes sense because they resemble Pacific Islanders and the language sounds very Hawaiian).  Here's a map of their immigration patterns:

She said the Maori bloodline was found in Southeast Asia, Northern Africa, South America and Alaska, meaning they all migrated from the Pacific Islands to these parts of the world (oh yea, and New Zealand, of course).  Very interesting.

Traditional Maori wood carving school (it's very exclusive, only accepting a handful of students a year):

Whoa:

Once you graduate, you are to go back to your village (or wherever) and teach what you have learned to the rest of your people.  The Maori are like any other culture, they are all over New Zealand and different "tribes" (not sure if they're called tribes) have slightly different rules, customs and traditions from the others.  Although, at the end of the day, they're all Maori and have the same philosophies.

Traditional Maori weaving school (also very exclusive):

She's taking it way seriously:

Seeing all this beautiful craftsmanship makes you want to go straight into the gift shop, which we did!  Our tour ended and we went straight in.  Oh crap was all this stuff expensive!  I get it, they're traditional Maori designs made by Maori people with old-fashioned tools and painstaking methods.  Each item probably took hours to make.  I got my mom something (it'll be a surprise) and that was it!

Hey, you can buy the mud from the mud pits and rub it on your face!  Awesome!

After the gift shop, it was time for our dinner and traditional Maori show.  They showed us how they're making our dinner:

It's a giant steambox!

Then we gathered around their community room (I forgot what they called it) for a traditional greeting:

We had to elect a leader of our "tribe," Joe, and he accepted the offering The Maori leader gave (spoiler alert: it was a fern leaf, mostly just symbolic):

Then they did a dance and invited us inside:

where they did a series of performances for about an hour.  It was great to see their traditions live on in their descendants.  If you're interested, Aaron recorded a few of the performances (just FYI: they're pretty long):

Video 1

Video 2

Video 3

Of course, it wasn't the best singing or dancing I'd ever heard, but it was moving for me because it represented tradition.  These dances are symbolic and mean something to these people.  They've been passed down from generation to generation and it was such a trip to see some of these younger kids really appreciating where they came from and being proud to share it with us.  

After the performance, we were led into this hall for dinner.  It was much fancier than either of us were anticipating.

I didn't get a chance to take pictures of the buffet, but they had a whole salad bar, soup section, entree area and dessert table.  Here's my plate jam-packed with grub:

The had roasted beef, pork and chicken, pasta, scalloped potatoes, veggies and rice.  Here's my salad plate:

They had all kinds of salad, but I went for the seafood salads.  Yum!  Needless to say, we were pretty full, but still wanted to take one last trip to the geysers to see them at their full height.  Apparently, this geyser goes off twice an hour and lasts for awhile, so I don't see how we could miss it.

Thar she blows!

The stench of sulfur was potent and we got soaked by the steam, but it was super cool!  Not to mention, everyone else was still eating, so we got to see it all by ourselves.  Very nice (in my head I'm doing my Borat voice).

I loved Te Puia and learning about all things Maori.  Even though it's obviously a tourist draw, I felt like I got a glimpse into their real traditions and got some backstory into their origins, which was hugely fascinating for me.

It was already almost 9pm, so we hit the road!  It took us 3 hours to get back to Auckland.  We were wiped, but happy we completed our Trilogy Tour (and then some).  Fun road trip!