Welcome to Aotearoa!

 Lee and I got to spend a week and a half in New Zealand! What an adventure it was, starting with a 13 hour flight from Los Angeles on Wednesday May 8th to arrive at Auckland early on Friday May 10th. We did our best to get some sleep, it helped that I had a row to myself so I could stretch out and steal extra pillows. 

Once we landed on Friday morning and got through customs and biosecurity, we hopped into a little rental car, heading for Rotorua.

(I can't explain this sheep shaped building, so don't ask.) Did I mention they drive on the left in New Zealand? Even tired as we were, it wasn't too difficult to get used to.

Rotorua is known for a few things: Māori cultural experiences, geothermal fields and geysers, and a grove of redwood trees. Our first stop upon arrival was for a tasty breakfast. Next, we visited the Polynesian Spa to relax in the beautiful and luxurious hot springs by the lake.

There were several pools of varying temperatures--some alkaline, some acidic--as well as heated lounge chairs. Rotorua was experiencing a serious autumn cold snap--it did get to freezing temperatures at night--but Utah's cold spring had us well prepared. We wore layers and were quite comfortable, even on the coldest days.

We had the pools to ourselves for about an hour and a few other guests in and out the rest of the time we were there It was positively serene.

Many times I've had to come up with something to do to fight jetlag. You need to be outside, but nothing to strenuous; a little active, but not too mentally demanding. I think visiting a hot spring is the absolute best jetlag activity there is.

After getting cleaned and dry, we passed by one of Rotorua's most famous buildings: The historic first bath house/spa in the area, later became a museum. It closed in 2016 due to earthquake damage, but a seismic retrofit is underway! It is still a beautiful exterior and hopefully the museum will be able to open again in the near future.

We checked into our B&B and with a little help from our hostess, Vivian, made some plans. She had some recommendations for us on where to get groceries and some activities we might want to do.

We knew we wanted to visit the redwood grove, Vivian said the best time to go was right before sunset and to definitely to the treetop walk experience. Advice we are very happy we followed!

We took the short path around the grove, which was lovely. The grove of California Redwoods was planted here in 1901, and is clearly a much beloved walk/jog/cycling area for the locals and visitors alike.

It was quite fun to pass through the redwoods and back to native bush, which mostly consists of gigantic ferns and the greenest moss you've ever seen.

This river was clearly fed by some very mineral rich springs! The color was so unusually blue.

Once it started getting dark, we got in line for the tree walk.

The tree walk takes you up onto a trail of suspension bridges through the redwoods, surrounded by trees and unique lanterns. It really looked and felt like visiting the Ewoks. For those reading the signage, there was a lot that could be learned about redwood trees, though I think most people were just trying to get a decent photo that captured how cool it looked.

Lee's phone was the only camera we had that took a half way decent photo in the dark, so I was constantly bothering him with "ooh, get a photo of that!"

It was chilly, but otherwise a very nice night. The lanterns were designed by David Trubridge and installed over the course of something like 20 years. The grand finale is the giant blue lantern that you actually go inside of, but it is remarkably difficult to capture it's size in a photo.

By the end of the walk, we were quite tired and I was so proud that we'd made it so long staying awake. Mission accomplished, team! but remember, May is late fall, so the sun sets quite early. When we got back to our car, it was only 6:30 PM. We battled to stay awake a little bit longer, but only made it to 8PM before I positively passed out.

Not surprisingly, we woke up very early in the morning, around 5:30. We were not fully adjusted to local time yet, but we'd get there eventually. Saturday was a full day and we spent most of it on our feet, starting out with a nice breakfast chatting with Vivian and her other guest. Then we headed back over to the Redwood grove as the starting point of our first little hike of the day. 

Māori language and culture is very integral to life in New Zealand. All signage appears in English and Māori, and Rotorua is one of the best places to see Māori history and cultural preservation in action.

Here's a cool Māori plant fact: The silver fern is a unique plant native to New Zealand, easily recognized because--as the name suggests--the backs of the leaves and stems are silver. Māori people found they reflected moonlight very well, so placing fronds face down on your path made it easy to find your way back after a day of hunting. It works better than breadcrumbs. See how well it works?

Our hike took us up a forest covered ridge, at the top we could see the lake over the treetops.

Our way down led us back through the redwoods and passed one of the attractions we didn't have time for: a treetop walk with a more adventurous bent:

With our warm up walk in the bag, we headed about 15 minutes down the road to Te Wairoa: The Buried Village.

This is the somewhat rebuilt remnants of a village buried by mud in in the volcanic eruption of Mt Tarawera in 1886. It had been a bit of a tourist spot, famous for beautiful pink and white terraced mineral pools. The volcano destroyed and buried the terraces and destroyed many villages. Te Wairoa, despite being buried, only had few fatalities. Many fled for safety, others, trapped in their buried homes, were rescued from the mud.

Days before the eruption a "phantom canoe" was spotted on the lake. This was considered a terrible omen. We visited the small museum that describes the history of the area, the people who lived there, and showcases artifacts recovered from the eruption.

Then we followed the walking path outside that winds it's way through the excavated village of Te Wairoa. Here we could see examples of traditional Whares (traditional Māori huts) and foundations of the European style buildings.

The only hint that it was autumn came with an occasional tree with turned leaves and seeing our breath on chilly mornings. Everything else was so green, you'll be forgiven for thinking it was spring time.

As interesting as the village is, the highlight of the walk is the optional ending: taking the stairs down a gully to a beautiful waterfall.

Once you climb back up the other side, you are rewarded with a commanding view of the Tarawera valley.

We were actually quite warm from our little hike, so we had an outdoor picnic for lunch before stopping off at a scenic overlook of Terawara lake.

This Waka (a Māori canoe) was placed here, upright which signifies the burial spot of a chief. Waka have huge significance for Māori people and the elaborate carving of wood, stone, whale bone, and jade are cherished artforms. One of the top schools for craftsmen to learn tradition carving is in Rotorua.

Before we headed back to Rotorua, we stopped at Blue Lake and Green Lake. I had intended to just go to the overlook to view the lakes, but we decided to take the hiking path and walk around Blue Lake. It's a popular boating and swimming spot in the summer, but Green Lake is not.

 

It is privately owned and the only ones allowed to swim in Green Lake are members of the local Māori tribe. So we enjoyed Green Lake from a distance and got a bit closer to Blue Lake.

I'd heard it from enough sources to take seriously the advice to be vigilant with sunscreen in New Zealand. Remember that hole in the ozone? It's above New Zealand. but with it being nearly winter, the sun is lower in the sky and UV rays have to pass through a lot more atmosphere to get to us. Combine that with long sleeves, and we never got sunburned, even on days when we weren't reapplying at all.

We took a while to rest our feet after our day of hiking before our big evening event: A Māori feast at Mitai Village. The tourist hoards were treated to a traditional Hangi dinner, a torchlit war canoe, welcoming ceremony, warrior and game demonstrations, and Māori music and dancing culminating in the famous Haka.

It was a buffet with far more than I could eat, all quite delicious. Seated at our table were visitors from Slovenia, Germany, Australia, Ireland, the UK, and us bloomin' Americans. We learned more about facial tattoos, the current state of bilingual education, and how the Māori originally found Aotearoa: The Land of the Long White Cloud.  I was again very happy to have so many warm layers as portions of the even were outside, though big bonfires and electric heaters helped keep us warm. 

It was such a fun night and we managed to stay awake till 10 PM! Miracle of miracles. So far our trip to New Zealand was sweet az!