This morning we visited Te Puia, a Maori Arts and Crafts Institute and natural thermal valley (complete with mud pools and a geyser field); we joined a guided tour and had a walk around.
Compared to what we had seen on White Island yesterday … the attractions of the natural thermal valley felt a bit like a joke. On White Island it all been a bit more intense and – of course – without those Chinese tour groups, we constantly had to walk around …
Once we got back from our trip to White Island, we had a short break to change clothes and get showered – in order to get that crazy sulfur smell of our bodies (I actually ended up throwing my pullover away … even washing did not do the trick).
Anyhow – after that break – we went for a Maori cultural performance and hangi dinner. The whole setup was quiet touristy, though provided some insight into maori traditions – from the waka (the traditional war canoe), to the moko (traditional tattoos) and their meanings, an overview of traditional weapons – and of course dancing and singing. All that was followed by a traditional hangi dinner (ground cooked meats and vegetables) and a jungle walk after dinner.
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This was probably one of the most intense options I ever did on a trip – taking a helicopter and flying to an active volcano 50 km off the coast and actually landing in its caldera. Here our captain turned … Continue reading