Andy
Alex
Azz
Connie
Daniel Chong
Danielle
Poh Choo
Ryonna
Samantha
Owen
Wan Idora
Hannah
Angelina
Hui Mian
Serena
Emily

9:16 PM
So i went on a short roadtrip with few of my cousins, Darren and Marianne, and her boyfriend Lee, to tour the North Island during the last few days of my holiday. Stopped at Hamilton on the way there. The city's basically boring with nothing interesting at all to do. 1 and half hour's journey later and we finally arrived in the much named "fart-town". With the sulfur pools surrounding it, the whole place practically smells like bad rotten eggs mixed with some other nasty stuff. You won't even need to reach the city centre to know you're in Rotorua coz the smell is evident even when you're 20 miles out. Eww..



We stayed at a cosy heated motel which costs just about 20$ for each person. At first we thought it was a bargain that was too good to be true, as about everything was provided in the room, and we got to use the mineral pool the next day so it was all good.

Next up we were off to visit the village of the Maori tribe, Mitai,


Where, along with other people from 12 countries around the world and a leader chosen from our group, we were shown where our meal was being cooked. It was cooked in the traditional Maori hangi, where the food is cooked underground above super heated rocks.


Potatoes,beef,chicken and lamb.. yummy..

Our guide decided to make us starve for a bit for the food as he led us on towards the main village and told us we had to finish watching the show before we could enjoy the food. And then it was on to to the Wai-o-whiro river where according to our guide, was sacred to the tribe as it churned out thousands of gallons of water each day from the spring.

Suddenly, we could hear the sounds of people shouting, yet couldnt hear them. Turns out some of the villagers were coming out to greet the people in their 10m long waka, or canoe, and its really eerie at first as we couldnt really see anything when its pitch black but slowly as the canoe approached we could see the flaming torches on the it.


Not exactly what i saw but it gives you an idea..

After that, the villagers disembarked and led us on to their village, where our leader, a Swedish man who came with his family, had to accept the peace token given by a representative of the tribe as a sign of friendship.



Once the peace token is accepted, we are then officially welcomed as visitors and are treated to a show about their history, culture, and some of the songs they sing in the tribe, as well as the traditional Haka ( War dance )



A demonstration of an ancient game played using two sticks

After that it was finally time to chow down. All the delicious food was laid and ready for the crowd: succulent New Zealand Lamb & Chicken, Potatoes (Rewai), Sweet Potato (Kumara) and stuffing (a combination of Bread, Mixed Herbs, Corn, Carrots & Peas), Scalloped potatoes baked with a cheese topping and freshly baked Garlic Bread,Corn salad, Cauliflower with Sesame Seeds, Rice, Ranchslaw and Freshly Tossed Garden Salad and not forgetting the rich brown gravy and thick mint sauce.

It's all you can eat so we just piled up our plates!



Finally, John, our guide, brought us to the source of the river, a 1000 year old spring where the water is as clear as glass. You could even see the little fish at the bottom!

And thats pretty much our trip to the Mitai Maori village. Here's another video to sum up the whole thing.


Part two soon to come if i feel like blogging. =)