Rotarua

Zorbing - something I've always wanted to try

The day we set off to Rotarua I was so tired because I only had about 3 hours sleep in our 15 bed dorm and we had to get up at 6.00. It was a really long day too, with Buzz dragging the bus journey out and stopping at every possible photo opportunity, including a wind farm. We got to Rotarua, said bye to our two new friends from Liverpool and checked into a hostel that we had found ourselves online. It was an absolute bargain (£10 a night – the cheapest we've paid in NZ, a free large pizza from dominos and half an hours free internet!). I slept on the setee when we checked in because our beds weren’t ready, but as soon as they were I conked out on the bed for the whole afternoon. We then had to go out into town to try and book some of the activities that we had come back to Rotarua to do. The first one was white water rafting. On the way down, we had decided not to do it, but save it until the end. It is grade 5 rapids where you raft down a 7m waterfall – the world's highest commercially raftable waterfall. Both of us wanted to do it more than any other activity in NZ. Unfortunately though, when we came to book it, they told us that the river had been shut due to extreme rainfall. We were absolutely gutted! We couldn't decide then, whether to just leave it or do another, lower grade raft instead. We decided to do a grade 4 raft which was longer and we also booked to do zorbing (rolling down the hill in a giant hamster ball full of water) and to go to a Maori culture show. We were in for a busy day, so we went back to the hostel got our free pizza each (BBQ sauce pizza, mmm) and then settled down infront of the hostel telly to watch a programme about how most of the animals in NZ aren't actually native to NZ but have come from OZ – including the kiwi!. The people in our hostel were a lot nicer than the usual crowds we find in the magic selected hostels and we had a really nice night.

The next day was action packed and fantastic. We started at 9am by doing the zorb (or OGO as they call it here), and were rolled down a hill in a ball full of water. The photos and videos were cool but we decided not to buy them as we were already spending too much money. Then we went on the fishpipe for free, which I didn't enjoy – it was a big ball where you are strapped inside and they spin it round. Next we walked to the hotel across the road where I sat by the pool and read my book whilst we waited for our bus to pick us up for rafting. The bus picked us up and drove us 50 mins out of town to the rafting. We were in a boat with 4 other girls (all really friendly) and two guides. The best bit was when we went down a rapid and the boat was completely engulfed in water. After this there was a calm bit where we all jumped out and messed about on the river, pushing each other out etc. The rafting lasted about 1h30 altogether which was a lot longer than the one we did in Peru. At the end, they gave us subway sandwhiches and nachos and we played with the baby duck.

The minibus took us back to our hostel and we quickly got ready, before heading out to our Maori show at 6.30pm. The Maori show (the Tamaki show) was something we had deliberated long and hard about going to. When Buzz had first told us about it on our 2^nd day in NZ, we had thought the price was far too high and that we definitely wouldn't go. Jemma really wanted to go but I said I couldn't justify it. A load of people off our coach went and told us the next day about how great it was. We then met a fair few people on our travels through NZ who also raved about it, including one girl who was the manager of Magics girlfriend and told us it was supposed to be the best show in NZ and showed us videos. The show is basically a Maori (the natives of NZ) culture show, where they take you through their village and do a show and then you have a big feast that is cooked underground on hot stones (a hangi) and is all you can physically eat (according to the German girl, who told us she has never seen so much food in her life). The only one bad review we heard was off a girl who told us that 'the village was a fake village'. Well, duh, we didn't expect to find a real Maori village in 21^st century NZ. Anyway, after thinking about it for 4 weeks and weighing up people's reviews, we finally decided to go for it (mainly for the hangi feast more than anything else!). Also because we hadn't learnt much about the Maoris during our time in NZ and after watching the All Blacks Haka (Maori war dance) on youtube, I decided that I couldn't leave NZ without seeing the real thing.

The Chiefs being 'welcomed' into the village

So, we went to the Tamaki Village place in the centre of Rotarua where we were picked up by buses. Every guest got onto a bus with their tribe (you were assigned to a tribe) and then once in the bus, the driver/ comedian explained what would happen in the village and chose a tribal leader to represent the bus (Ryan from Yorkshire). The bus driver was the most hilarious man ever and remembered everyone's name on the bus. He went through each country doing jokes about the countries and saying things in the various languages. He told us that when we got to the village, the chief from each bus would have to stand at the entrance and face the Maori warriors who would come to frighten them and then welcome them into the village. I can't really describe this in words so I will try to put up a video. It basically involved a lot of pulling weird faces, sticking out of tongues and waving of sticks. It set one girl off our bus off crying. 

Once all the chiefs had been welcomed, we went into the village and wandered around the various huts where there were village people describing what they did in the village and demonstrating games etc that they played. After this, they took us to see our hangi feast cooking under ground (under mud) and then we went into an auditorium where they put on a show of singing and dancing which was outstanding. They then showed us a video about Maori heritage and how the Maoris had narrowly survived as a race and how New Zealand (Aeotorrea) is ensuring the survival of their culture today. It was quite touching.

Finally, we entered the buffet room, where we sat with a load of kiwis and I literally ate until my stomach was about to burst. I had chicken, lamb, fish, coleslaw, gravy, potatoes, carrots, stuffing, vegetables, desert....

It was an outstanding feast.

We then all got back onto our buses and the driver dropped everyone off at their individual hotels, giving us entertainment and jokes on the way. When each person got off, they had to do the traditional Maori hongi gesture (touching of noses). I don't normally like these kind of shows but this was without a doubt the best thing I have done in New Zealand and I would recommend it to anyone. If you go to New Zealand, you must go to Rotarua and do the Tamaki Village Maori show, it is amazing!