On Monday midday we left the city and drove right to Turangi on the south of Lake Taupo. There it starts with the thermal springs and hot mud pools and further in the south west are some inactive volcanoes. The hostel wasn’t the best and the bedroom rather cold, but the host provide a map and some information about the area. So on the next day we visited Mordor (Tongariro National Park) and a lovely waterfall, which should appear in the movie but I haven’t yet found out where. Further on we drove to Taupo, visited the Huka falls, a geothermal active area and finally looked for an accommodation in Rotorua. It’s the awful smell of rotten eggs which made our stay in this city a bit unpleasant. Although we had already a busy day we booked for a Maori event which took place at the evening. It started with a funny bus drive to the village. Our bus driver explained what “Kia ora” means in over sixty languages, includes several jokes and with the typical accent. Then a passenger was chosen to represent the group. This one had to pick up a welcome present and show that we come in peace and not for war. After this ceremony we were welcomed in the village where, in different houses, they showed how they lived. Then we lifted up our dinner which was steamed on hot rocks in a hole in the earth. But before we had something to eat we were entertained with typical songs and dances. In a nutshell it was very interesting and the dinner yummy.
On the next morning we had a look into the government gardens and drove outside of the city to some lakes and to the redwood forest. There are only Californian Redwood trees planted and was a good break from the disgusting smell. The weather got bad and we drove across the island to the Waitomo glow worm caves.
(all pictures will be uploaded later on. Sry guys...)
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