New Zealand: Day 8

Gold rule

January 10, 2013

Again the day was brilliant and clear with only wisps of intermittent clouds. The temperature, as the day before, was a little on the warmish side, probably in the mid to upper 70s.

I do mean this in the nicest way, but the day essentially was a day of "tourists traps": everything we did today was at a venue designed to collect tourist dollars. Our first stop was at the Agrodome, where we saw a demonstration of sheep shearing. I wondered if some of the sheep getting sheared were in the audience! When I saw this event was on the itinerary I groaned, but it turned out to be a very interesting show. About a dozen and a half breeds of sheep were put on display, including, to my delight, one breed known as the Romney and another known as the Black Romney! Now we know what has become of Mitt since he lost the election: he has returned to his natural state! Yes, I have pictures! The show actively recruited members of the audience to participate, and I volunteered to milk a cow, something I had never done before. Again, this was not really on my bucket list, but part of what I think travel should be about is doing and experiencing new things. I couldn't resist the gift shop afterwards (it's a trap remember?), and I bought a very nice purple sweater that was 50% merino wool, 10% silk, and 40% possum (not opossum) fur!

We drove further down the road, and then took the Skyline gondola ride up to the top of Mount Ngongotaha looking out over the Pacific Ocean. Once at the top, we took luge rides down the side of the peak. It wasn't a real luge in the sense that you lay on your back on a small platform and sped down a hill, but, rather, you sat upright in little carts with wheels and a column that gave you the ability to steer and brake. But, just as with the luge as we know it, gravity did all the work. Away I went; whee! As the many signs around the venue read, as well as all the shirts worn by the staff, "once is not enough," and they were right. So I took the chair lift back up to the top and queued up for a second ride, but this time I took the advanced track (beginner, intermediate, and advanced tracks were available; I had taken the beginner track on my first run). WHEE! Adrenalin rush!

The next stop was Rainbow Springs, a "wildlife preserve," i.e., a place where wildlife were "preserved" in cages for the benefit of paying tourists. I have very mixed feelings about such arrangements. Nevertheless, the location had a very nice collection of birds. Indeed, its focus seemed to be flying creatures, with the exception of a small reptile house and a kiwi house (kiwi are flightless). Here I saw my first live kiwi! No, not a New Zealand native, but the national bird. There are six species of kiwis, five of which are nocturnal. The kiwis at Rainbow Springs were the nocturnal type, so the facility was very dark. Signs were posted everywhere asking people not to take photographs, but still parents were not only letting their children take photos, but encouraging them to do so. Must. Resist. Urge. To. Say. Something.

We then completed our day's journey on to Rotorua, not to be confused with Rotoroa Island that I visited on my first day. "Ewww; what's that smell?" (Inside joke.) The smell was caused by an abundance of hydrogen sulfide. Rotorua is New Zealand's Yellowstone, but on a much smaller scale and without the bison, bears, wolves and elk. More on this tomorrow.

We had a few minutes to relax, and then it was time to head off to Tamaki Maori Village for a Maori cultural experience and dinner. We were joined by several other tour groups, and after the formal welcoming ceremony (each tour group had to choose a chief, and we had to prove we were not there to steal their wives), we entered the village. Four or five huts were set up, and as we moved from hut to hut, a Maori person demonstrated and explained an aspect of Maori culture. I was "volunteered" to join in on a Maori sport involving sticks laid on the ground that was not dissimilar from the football exercise in which players race through a course of automobile tires. I was not prepared to exercise!

Next we entered an auditorium, and the village's Maori performed songs and dances, and told us more about their culture. The songs were quite beautiful and poignant. The performance concluded with the Maori haka, the traditional war ritual used whenever challenged by another tribe. Eyes bulged and tongues were stuck out. Interestingly, the haka, including the showing of the tongues, not only was intended to intimidate potential opponents, but to honor them as well. "You are a worthy opponent," the haka is intended to convey, even if murder was the next thing in mind. Finally, it was time for dinner. To my surprise, a vegetarian could have eaten very well, but fish also was on the buffet, so this lousy vegetarian had that as his main course.

After we returned to our hotel for the evening, I raced over to the Polynesian Spa, which claims to be one of the top 10 spas in the world. I chose the Adult Pools, a series of four cascading pools ranging from 37 degrees C to 42 degrees C. I felt I could handle this much better than the 70 degree C water of the (Scalding) Hot Water Beach. I started with the coolest of the pools and gradually moved up to the warmest pool. Very relaxing; I enjoyed myself very much. It was a great way to end what had been a long and busy day.

One of my closest and most special friends had considered joining me on this trip, for he, too, had long dreamed of traveling to New Zealand. However, he backed out when he saw the aforementioned Maori cultural display and dinner was on the itinerary. He told me he had problems with the dominant culture exploiting an indigenous culture for the entertainment of visiting tourists. It was an interesting perspective that had some merit, I thought, and one I kept in mind as I was at Tamaki. Were these people being exploited? The early part when we went from hut to hut to view a different Maori cultural practice did have a somewhat Disney-esque quality. I approached one of our Maori hosts at Tamaki, told her about my friend's views and asked for her thoughts. She even seemed saddened by the question. "We do this for us, too. We are proud of our culture and heritage and we want to share it with others. This also is how we pass our culture from one generation to the next." Tamaki had been conceived by, developed and built by Maori. If anybody was being "exploited" at all, it was the visitors to the village. I wish my friend had had an opportunity to hear her views before deciding against joining me on the tour; I'm sure he would have had a different perspective after listening to her. I would have appreciated his company immensely, as well.

Gold rule

Previous  

Gold rule

Please use the links below to reach other areas of this site:

Last revised: August 26, 2015.

Contact Me   About Me