Maori Culture Day 13 Go Ahead NZ Untamed Landscapes #goaheadtours #newzealand

Traveler's Log Tuesday November 29, 2016
Whakarewarewa - The Living Maori Village
Te Wairoa, The Buried Village
Tamaki Maori Village

Kia Ora
It's 1:30 Tuesday afternoon, our group, going on the optional Maori Culture Tour, meets in the hotel lobby and waits for Tui, our guide for the trip to arrive.
When she does we board the bus with Craig driving and we head off to Whakarewarewa, a Māori village that uses geothermal for heating, cooking and healing.

Our village guide tells us about the people living in the village and the guides who came before him.

25 families, 80 people are living in this village. He explained that his ancestors came to Aotearoa, Land of the Long White Cloud, from Hawaiiki, mythical ancestral homeland of the Māori. They came by waka (canoe.)

Six wakas landed on the North Island and one landed on the South Island.

This village makes use of the geothermal vents for bathing, heating and cooking.

He demonstrates the poi balls. Which the ladies will show us in a dance.

We get a quick tour of the village and then the show begins. Some of the villagers perform in the daily show about traditional Māori song and dance.

A little video about the Maori.

After the show our guide takes to the Te Tohu geyser. Te Tohu first sprang to life in 1886 following the eruption of Mount Tarawera.

We make our way back to the gate but first we stop to check on dinner.

It smells great.

We're back on the bus and heading to Te Wairoa, a village established by the Christian missionary in 1848 as a model village, however Te Wairoa survived for fewer than 40 years before it, and the nearby Pink and White Terraces were obliterated by the eruption of Mt Tarawera. The Smith family is conducting the excavations of this village that was buried in volcanic lava and ash.

We make a quick stop to look at Mt. Tarawera.

Our tour of the Buried Village begins in their museum of recovered articles.

Legend has it that the medicine man of the village predicted the disaster.

His hut has been unearthed and restored.

The village hotel was buried.

Our guide tells Jay and I about the Wairere Falls where you can stand in the spray as the water plunges 30 metres over the Waitoharuru Cliffs. It's pretty steep and a bit of a hike so she only tells Jay and I and we run ahead of our group to check it out.

We are not disappointed!

On our way back to the hotel we make a stop at the Blue and Green Lakes

We're back at the hotel with a little time to freshen up before our dinner at Tamaki Village.

On the bus we choose a Chief of our waka (bus) it's Mike from California. Our guide tells us about what we'll be experiencing.

A pōwhiri (‘poor-fee-dee’) is a traditional Māori welcoming ceremony. It was originally used to challenge a visiting party and find out their intentions.

Though the pōwhiri has a basic structure, there are variations, depending on the occasion.

A pōwhiri usually involves a wero (challenge) from a warrior and a karanga (welcome call) from a female host.

This is followed by whaikōrero (welcome speeches.)

Following the speeches, waiata (songs) are often sung and then visitors hongi – press noses together in a traditional Māori greeting.

We are welcomed into the village to see what life was like: stick game training, a quick lesson in the Haka, food gathering and storage, and the meaning of the tattoos etc.

Finally the Chief calls us together to see the Hangi cooking.