Swizzy's go East!: Rotorua & Napier.... from smelly to arty!

After a good rest at our 'fancy' Motel in Rotorua we were re-energised to go and learn more about the Maori culture and how they used the geothermal activities in this region for their purpose.

'Whakarewarewa' is a living thermal village which means that the Maori actully do live there but are part of the 'tourist-atraction'. They work there for example as tour guides, part of the show group or gardeners etc.

Whakarewarewa is a Maori village where they live and work and are part of the tourist-attraction / Whakarewarewa ist ein Maori-Dorf in welchem sie leben und arbeiten und Teil der Touristen-Attraktion sind

Entrance gate to the village which means something (but we have forgotten)/ Eingangs-Tor in das Dorf dass etwas bedeutet (aber wir haben es vergessen)

Pasci in the typical Maori-pose / Pasci in der typischen Maori-Haltung

....and Mishell can do it as well / ....und Mishell kann es natürlich auch

First we went to see a 'Maori' performance where a group of Maori was performing some traditional dances, singing and warrior-dance. Very interesting :)

The Maori performance was very interesting, sad (love song) and scary (the war-dance "Haka") / Die Maori Vorstellung was sehr interessant, traurig (Liebeslied) und beängstigend (Kriegs-Tanz "Haka")

Although the guy in the middle does not look very Maori he did a good job (look at his tongue) / Obwohl der Typ in der Mitte nicht wie ein Maori aussauscht hat er eine gute Vorstellung geliefert (seht ihr seine Zunge??!)

The warrior dance - frightening....no? / Der Kriegstanz - Beängstigend, oder?

Some performance by the Maori women / Eine Vorstellung der Maori Frauen

And for your information....Whakarewarewa is only the shortform of the name you can read at the bottom (the white signboard)...has something like 40 letters / Und zu Eurer Information....Whakarewarewa ist nur die Kurzform des Namens welchen ihr unten auf dem weissen Schild lesen könnt....hat ungefähr 40 Buchstaben

Then we took part in a guided tour around the village (the guides are obviously Maori and are living there). The lady explained to us that all the inhabitants of the village are desendants of a group of polynesian immigrants who came to New Zealand long time ago. They use the geothermal activities mainly for cooking (i.e. imagine a huge natural 'steamer') and bathing.

The 'natural' steamer / Der 'natürliche' Steamer

The hot pools are to boil vegetables (can you spot the doggy-bag on the left) / Die heissen Pools werden benützt um Gemüse zu kochen (könnt ihr die Plastiktasche sehen auf der linken Seite)

They use the hot water from the natural pools to fill it into their baths / Sie benützen das heisse Wasser der natürlichen Pools um es in ihre Badewannen zu füllen

The geysers in this area are very active - they blow about once every hour. Very fascinating! This is the 'Prince of Wales' Geyser/ Die Geysire in dieser Region sind sehr aktiv - sie spritzen ca. einmal in der Stunde. Sehr faszinierend! Dieses Geysir heisst 'Prince of Wales'

The local Rivella is called L&P and is a quite tasty lemonade / Das dortige Rivella heisst 'L&P' und schmeckt sehr gut

After the insightful tour we went to the village own restaurant to try some of the traditonal Maori food (all steamed in the steamer) called Hangi: Pork, Chicken, potato, sweetpotato (or Kumara how they call it), cabbage, carrots and sweetcorn. And for dessert fruit-cake with custard.

We then took a walk around the village to see some of the beautiful landscape (green and blue lake) and Mishell wanted to indulge herself again with a natural facial treatmend (steaming).

The traditional Maori food called Hangi - everything steamed in their natural steamer / Das traditionelle Maori essen heisst Hangi - alles wird gedämpft in dem natürlichen 'steamer'

The village-house where all the important things happen: weddings, funerals, discussions etc. / Das Dorf-Haus in welchem alle wichtigen Sachen abgehalten werden: Hochzeiten, Beerdigungen, Diskussionen etc.

The green lake / Der grüne See

And the blue lake.... / und der blaue See....

Mishell having a 'facial-session' and steaming her face / Mishell hat eine Gesichts-Behandlung und dämpft ihr Gesicht

Later in the afternoon we then drove off towards Napier which is an Art Deco town. The drive took us past some beautfiul New Zealand landscape and through Lake Taupo.

We arrived in Napier at about half past 4ish, enough time to have a quick look at the harbour site and do some groceries for dinner. As a usual ritual we then had to decide where we want to stay the night.

As we both were missing the camper-feeling we decided to stay in a cabin at one of the caravan parks where Mishell produced another one of her finger-licking dinners! *yummy*

Quick stop at lake Taupo for a coffee and a snack / Kurzer Halt beim Taupo See für einen Kaffee und Snack

.....and on the street again.... /....und dann wieder am fahren....

Anf finally arriving at Napier..... / Und dann kommen wir endlich in Napier an...

The harbour of Napier....very scenic / Der Hafen von Napier....sehr malerisch

Our love-chamber.....o.k. - it's a cabin on the caravan park / Unsere Liebeskammer....o.k. - es ist unsere Kabine auf dem Camping Park

The delicious dinner Mishell prepared: Beef-stroganoff with mashed potatoes / Das köstliche Abendessen welches Mishell gekocht hat: Rinds-stroganoff mit Kartoffelstock

.....mmmhhh....Pasci couldn't wait to start! / .....mmmmhhhh....Pasci konnte nicht warten mit dem Essen zu beginnen!

This cabin had quite good standards: TV, water tub, fridge.... / Diese Kabine hat einen guten Ausbaustandard: TV, Wasser-Anschluss, Kühlschrank....

Pasci preparing the bed for the night / Pasci macht das Bett bereit für die Nacht

The next day we had discovering Napier and driving on to (endlessly long drive 317km) Wellington on the programme. Unfortunately things came a bit different. After only a short photoshoot at the waterfront, we got slightly nervous about a 'stinging' pain that Mishell felt below her right ribs area (she felt in for the last couple of weeks).

We decided to go and test the New Zealand standard of doctors with that riddle. Therefore we had to look for a medical center in town, wait an endless 45minutes in the waiting room, see the doctor (who asked a lot of questions & pressed around on her stomach and ribs), got sent to the x-ray....waited some more, got x-ray done and then the doc told us that he will call us back within two days since he has to discuss the x-ray with the x-ray specialist.

To not increase the suspense artificially....Mishell is fine (at least we hope so). The doc explained that all they can see on the x-ray and from what he felt it could be kind of a free floating 12th rib (out of cartillage) which could be inflamed for whatever reason. *pouh* Pasci explains Mishell's 12th rib with the amount of chicken-bones Mishell is consuming.....hehe :)

A short fotoshoot in Napier / Ein kurzes Fotoshooting in Napier