Maori Cultural Experience

December 18, 2014 - Part 2

It only took an hour to get to Rotorua, which is southeast of Hobbiton.  We have a little one bedroom place here and there is a twin bed and pull out sofa in the living room, so the kids are sleeping out there.  

We relaxed for an hour or so before being picked up for our Maori Cultural Experience. This was such a great thing to do.  We learned so much while having a fabulous time.  Our bus dropped us off with four other buses full of people.  We figured there were about 120 people there.

The evening starts with these Maori warriors coming out and greeting us.  At first they look pretty scary.  Then they do a few culturally significant dances and finally welcome us into their home.

We walk through this tunnel to get into the village.

There were several "stations" or huts and a small group of people went to each one.  After about ten minutes, you went to the next one.  Something about the Maori culture was taught at each station.

David and I got pulled into volunteering to embarrass ourselves, but the kids had a good laugh at our expense!  David learned the Haka.  He thinks it is pretty awesome that he has done a Haka with actually Maori warriors in New Zealand.

I learned how to use Poi.

The Maori did a lot of games to increase their speed and agility as well as to make them more adept at handling their weapons.

We are all practicing the Haka face with wide eyes and tongue sticking out!  Man, those guys have big eyes!

When we were finished with the stations, we went to the area where they were cooking our dinner.  They explained how they had been cooking it all day.  It is called a Hangi, and is a traditional New Zealand Maori method of cooking food using heated rocks buried in a pit oven all day.

The people working there truly enjoy their jobs and they really made it so interesting and fun to be there.  Right before dinner we were brought into a Maori meeting house for some entertainment.  They danced and sang and did the Haka again.  It was really a great show.

Of course we ate too much, but a great way to end the day.