The Kiwi Experience

We left the sunny beaches of the Coromandel late Sunday morning and headed inland southwest toward the Maori cultural hub of Rotorua. We grabbed a quick bite along the way at a cafe where we sat outside and fed the frisky sparrows a few bites of our leftover chips. Winding around the countryside, we admired the life of the New Zealand cattle, who lazily munch on open grass plains with hardly a fence or a barn in sight.

The trademark sulfur smell of ‘Rotten-rua’ wafted off the many hot springs dotting the town as we took an afternoon walk through the city. We started in Government Gardens, snapping some shots of the well-manicured flowerbeds and croquet courtyards before heading north along the lakeshore through War Memorial Park, where we side-stepped baby black swans and lots of other tourists.

From NZ Developed

We quickly showered and dressed for our first guided experience so far, a trip through a native Maori village, complete with authentic games and crafts before entering the intricately-carved Maori temple to take in the raucous song and dance of the island’s indigenous people. Then it was time for the hangi, the Maori meal prepared in a dug-out earth oven, using super-heated volcanic rocks and cloths soaked in water to cook the chicken, lamb, veggies, bread and pudding. During dinner, we met a splendid retired couple from Scotland who regaled us with stories from their travels around the world in Chile, the Galapagos, South Africa and Spain to name a few. We’ve practically already booked our next few trips on their advice. On the way home from the hangi, the bus was filled with folks from all around the world and we took turns singing songs from our native countries -- I’m sure the wine from dinner helped!

From NZ Developed

The next day, we headed to Rainbow Springs Wildlife Park to check out some of the indigenous (and introduced) wildlife. The park also operates a kiwi sanctuary and hatchery. The famous flightless bird are seriously endangered; the population of kiwis has dropped from several millions a few decades ago to an estimated 20-30,000 today. Kiwis are an ancient bird, having lived on both the north and south islands free from competition as far back as 80 million years ago. Now possums, dogs, ferrets and other introduced predators are the birds biggest threat -- a kiwi egg laid in the bush [the dense NZ forest] has only a five percent chance of hatching and growing to adulthood. Unfortunately, we couldn't take any pics of the kiwis, as they're very sensitive to light and sound. There were plenty other subjects throughout the park, though.

From NZ Developed

From NZ Developed

After our morning tour of the park under a welcome cloudy sky, we headed back to town for lunch. We happened across the Whiskey & Pig Pub and caught most of the Super Bowl with a tour bus of folks from the States. A few afternoon drinks turned into a relaxing night on the town in Rotorua, including dinner outside as the sunset and an amazing bottle of Pinot Noir from Central Otago, a southern region of the South Island known for excellent red wines -- we’ll actually finish our trip with a day long tour of Otago later this month.

Tomorrow it’s off to the airport to catch a flight to Nelson to begin our whirlwind tour of the South Island.