Road Trip to Rotorua – Day 1

Heading out to Rotorua. 3hrs of driving. Pointless to tell you distance as it is irrelevant when dealing with driving time in NZ. There is no such thing as a straight road here. Not one. For the girl that suffers from motion sickness – this is a nightmare. But hey – I’m up for the challenge.

I knew nothing about the roads here. I was blissfully ignorant. I bet you are starting to see a theme from me – “blissful ignorance” and “bubbles”. I spend a lot of time in blissful ignorance. Bubbles usually play a role but I often go to blissful ignorance because, quite simply, I am a fun idiot. I try not to think too far ahead or even too much, as it usually takes me into an anxiety ridden state. I am not a fun idiot when I am anxious. I am not fun at all, I am just anxious. So, I stay as blissfully ignorant as possible. And usually with the help of bubbles.

In this instance, my ignorance paid off. I decided to do the driving. Of course the kiwis drive on the opposite side of the road to Canadians. I am an ok driver. Not great but ok. I grew up on a farm and have driven all kinds of random motorized “stuff”. But I have rarely driven on the opposite side of the road and the last time I did, had to have been nearly 20 years ago. The hubby is a very good driver and does most of the driving getting the family around. Not this time though. We got a rental as we really needed 2 vehicles to get 8 people and luggage around the country for the next 2 weeks. And since M and I share a passion for karaoke, it is better for our marriages if it is just us in the car. And just like that – the girl car is born.

After a few roundabouts and lane changes, my nerves are settling down. I am ready to start belting out tunes. Tone Def Diva in the house! This driving thing really paid off because I got control of the music and driving really helps with motion sickness. Sweet!

First thing we do is stop to grab some snacks. By the way, you’ll see another theme pop up – food. We stopped at a gas station. Gas stations at home in Canada are notorious for crappy food. Not in NZ. Nope. They have flaky pastry pies. I got my first taste of what is considered to be a very kiwi thing to eat as a snack – meat pie. Flaky, golden pastry in the shape and size of a personal pie, filled with all kinds of savoury goodness. Gravy, lamb, beef, cheese, you name it. You can get a pie just about anywhere over here. Anyway, back on the road singing to my heart’s content, we drive to Matamata for lunch to see the “hobbit house” visitor centre.

No surprise I am sure but this is where Hobbiton is located. A big draw for tourists. Hence the hobbit house style centre. We went into the centre for a stretch of the legs. It was just a normal building inside. I am not sure why I thought it would be like a hobbit house inside or what a hobbit house should be but it was just a normal visitor centre. Still cool but would have been cooler with more of a hobbit house interior. Still no idea what that hobbit interior would look like though.

Next stop is where we are staying – Lake Rotoiti. We got a place right on the lake and about 15-20mins outside of Rotorua CBD. For the Canadians – CBD is the central business district. It makes it sound like Rotorua is a big city. It is not. Don’t get me wrong, it is a cool place just not that big. Anyway, we were staying just outside the town right on a lake. What a cool place to be staying. Was great for the kids as they could run around and go swimming. We towed a trailer with us to the lake full of toys. Water toys like standup paddle boards, a little dingy with a motor, fishing rods, boogie boards. You name it we had it. Perfect for fun in the lake.

We had just enough time to get unpacked, grab a snack and get dressed to go to a Maori cultural experience night. Since M had told me that we would be doing this, I had been really looking forward to it. Tamaki Maori Village is a fantastic experience. If you go to NZ, you need to go there. It really is well done and a true experience of Maori culture. We went downtown to the meeting place to get on our bus to be taken to the village.

First, we watched a short video on the Maori creation story. Then, we hopped onto buses that would take us to the village. Every bus has to have a chief. Maori culture dictates that each group (bus) must elect someone (a chief) to represent them (people on the bus) at the welcoming ceremony. And it has to be a man. (As you can imagine my inner feminist was raging at the “had to be a man” part but when in Rome….) The Maori take this very seriously. It is an important part of their culture and is formally done every time outsiders are welcomed to a village or gathering. Guess who got voluntold for the job of Chief. You got it – my hubby.

The video is 6 and half minutes long but you get to see the welcome ceremony performed in its entirety. Chief hubby has dark blue jeans on. He was handed a token – in his case a fern leaf – to acknowledge and welcome him.

After the ceremony, we wandered through the village, led by our chief to different huts (stations) where we learnt different aspects of Maori culture. We learnt about weaving, cooking, games, carvings, poi’s and the haka. Of course, at each of the stations the Chief was asked to choose people to participate in the demos. He voluntold me to for the poi’s. It’s harder than it looks ok!

After our walk around the village, we got to see the food we were going to eat later that evening. Food is a huge part of Maori culture. And we had a traditionally cooked dinner awaiting us.

As I mentioned, we only got to see the food we were going to eat. It still needed to be prepared for serving. While they prepared the meal, we gathered in the main hall called a marae. Once inside we watched a cultural performance of traditional dance and song. Was really amazing to watch. Their voices were louder than any sound system could have been. Incredible projection.

By this point my stomach was eating itself. I was slowly becoming a little more primal in behaviour due to hunger. I apologize again to the guy who was walking a bit slowly in front of me. I was only encouraging a quicker pace and not “shoving you forward like a mad woman”.

Dinner was great. I ate like a queen and slowly transformed back into a civilized human being. All in all, another fab day in NZ. Tomorrow is a lake day and bike ride. Btw… Peanut bought some Poi’s so I will get better at it.