January 14

Black Water Rafting, Bus to Rotorua, Hangi

I got up at 6:30 to get ready for a Black Water Rafting trip at 8:00. It was still raining, and there was a chance the water in the cave would be too high. When I arrived at the Cave Museum to check in, someone was checking the gauge in the cave. It was decided that the trip would go. The water was about at the maximal level, and if it rose any more, we might have to turn back.

Seven customers and three guides went on the trip. They added an extra guide for safety due to the high water. We went first to their headquarters, the Black Water Cafe, where we were issued wetsuits, laced rubber boots, helmets, and purple stretch pants to protect the wetsuits. We then went to the Aranui Cave parking area, where we had gone for the glow worm walk the night I arrived in Waitomo. It was no longer raining. The sun was coming out, and it was becoming warm. Some procedures were explained. We practiced "eeling up", making an inner tube chain to go through the glow worm passages in the dark. We also practiced jumping backward into the water and landing in the inner tube, which would be necessary at one waterfall.

It was a short walk from here to the cave entrance. We quickly came to a fast-moving stream and walked down it. We arrived at a deeper whirlpool, then went through a place with a low ceiling into another passage. The high water moved fast, and the guides warned us not to be careful not to drop our inner tubes. The water was noisy, and we had to stay close to hear the guides.

So far we had just been in a side passage. We soon came to the main stream, which was wider and faster. There we got into the tubes for a fast run in water that would be about class 1-2. My tube flipped, and I swam half of it, but held onto the tube. Then we came to a small waterfall, where we jumped over it and landed in the tubes, as we had practiced outside. The first glow worm passage followed. We "eeled up" into a chain and turned out our lights, and then floated down the glow worm passage in the dark.

Next, we walked around another waterfall, and tubed another fast section. This led to a wide, slow-moving stretch where we turned out our lights again and floated freely under the glow worms. Little red LEDs remained on while the lights were out, so we could see where everyone was. This passage led to a cave entrance, where we took our tubes out of the stream. I had a big cave spider on my back. A guide removed it and showed everyone.

We carried our tubes to the creek and floated a couple hundred meters back to the point where we had first jumped in. The water had a lot of foam in it from plants. I put a pile of it on my helmet. People thought it was disgusting. We took the bus back, changed and showered, and went to the Black Water Cafe for soup, toast, and coffee or tea. They mentioned that they also had a longer Black Water II trip now, that they started because the same people had been running the trips for several years now, and they were getting bored with just one. This trip was a lot wetter and more exciting than the cave rafting trip in Greymouth, although there was more to that trip than just tubing.

Back at the Cave Museum, I got a ticket for the 2:00 Intercity bus to Rotorua. I also bought a Haggas Honking Holes T-shirt while I was there. Then I walked down to the Ohake Maori pa site, a walk to the location of a one-time fortified village (pa) site on a hill in a sheep pasture. The walk had signs explaining the medicinal uses of various plants along the way. There was nothing left of the pa itself.

At the bottom of the hill, near the beginning of the walk, was a small Maori craft shop, with weaving demonstrations and traditional and contemporary Maori art. I stopped there after the walk. A pre-European Maori village recreation was out back. I visited it for $2.50, and then walked back to town and stopped at the Shearing Shed, a bright red building where a busload of Japanese tourists were watching an Angora rabbit being sheared. The rabbit's legs were stretched out with cords before shaving it. They had pretty T-shirts for sale here, and I bought one.

I stopped at the cafe and had a bacon and egg pie with a cup of chips before going up to the hotel to wait for the bus. Most visitors to Waitomo just come to see the Glow Worm Cave and leave. This was true of most of the people on this bus, who had come from Rotorua and were now returning.

The driver didn't say much until we got close to Rotorua. He said Rotorua meant "second lake", counting from the sea, and it was a collapsed, semi-active volcanic crater. He said there was a raft trip down a 7 meter falls that went through a pretty gorge on the Kaituna River, and he highly recommended it. He also pointed out some tourist attractions along the way, including the Agrodome, where they have sheep on stage, and you can see dogs walk on their backs. I thought I would pass on that. Rotorua is the center of the North Island's tourist industry, and has all sorts of tourist attractions. A friend of mine who had been here didn't like Rotorua because it was too touristy, comparing it to Pigeon Forge in the Smokies back home. Actually, it's not nearly that bad.

We stopped briefly at the Visitor's Center, modeled after the historic baths building, and I got off at the YHA hostel, a big one near the Polynesian Pools hot spring on the lake. I had reservations, and got a room in a small dorm. Then I asked about geyser tours, and received several brochures. I thought I might have time to see the Whakarewaka geysers and Maori Cultural Center 3 km away today, but they close at 6 PM and it was already 4:00. So I called Tamaki Tours, where I had booked the Maori Cultural Experience for tomorrow, and asked if I could go today instead. They said it would be fine. A bus would pick me up at the hostel. Tamaki Tours was highly recommended by the Lonely Planet guide book.

I looked through the geyser tour brochures. The Australian I met on the Tongariro Circuit had recommended the Pink Bus, which is the cheapest way to see the Waiotapu thermal area, said to be the area's most colorful and best. I decided on Carey's Capers, which visits all of the thermal areas, includes a hot swim, and visits the Maori Cultural Center in a full day. The same company also has a Get Volcanic tour which is similar, but includes a 4-wheel drive tour of a volcanic crater, but skips Whakarewaka. That sounded interesting, but I would have to fit Whakarewaka into my last morning then, and I wanted to have time to do the raft trip the bus driver described. I called Carey's Capers and made a reservation.

At 5:45, a bus came to pick up me and a Swede named Patrick for Tamaki Tours' Twilight Cultural Experience. The Maori driver/guide led everyone in a greeting "Kia Ora". Everyone boarding was greeted this way. I met the owner of a travel company, Black Sheep Tours, who was escorting a group to the hangi. She said she thought this was the best one in Rotorua. We went to the office at the Tourist Center to pay, and then took the bus to the marae, or ceremonial place, being instructed in Maori etiquette along the way. We were told what to expect, so no one would laugh at the warriors who came to challenge us in the traditional manner, sticking their tongues out and making faces. We were taught a simple song, "Kia Ora Ko To", sung to the tune of Happy Birthday, to use as a greeting in the meeting house.

The driver selected an Australian man to act as our chief. A lot of other busses arrived at the marae as well, including one full of Korean students. We made an arc around the entrance to the marae, and a group of Maori warriors came out to greet us. This began a series of challenges, meant to determine the visitors' intentions. The warriors came out in traditional flax skirts, waving weapons and sticking their tongues out. This was to threaten and insult the visitors, to provoke an attack if one were intended.

We came in peace, so palm fronds were offered by the chiefs. Acceptance was signaled by a "hongi", pressing the noses together twice in an expression of unity through our common breath. Then the women came out, and they made a speech and sang, and invited us into the compound. Inside was a model pre-European village where a number of Maori activities were being demonstrated. We watched for a while, before we were escorted to the meeting house for the concert.

In the meeting house, only men were allowed to sit in the first row, no women or children by tradition. This was to protect the women and children in case hostilities broke out between the hosts and guests. We were greeted with poetry and song, and responded with the song "Kia Ora Ko To" we had been taught on the bus. The Korean children sang a special Korean song. A variety of songs and dances followed, now that the serious formalities were over. Guitars, used by the Maori since the turn of the century, were used for accompaniment. There was an audience participation song, with hand motions, about a "tunifa", or monster.

After the concert, we went to see the hangi, our meal, being unwrapped. There were three layers of baskets, the top and bottom having pork and chicken and dressing, and the middle having potatoes, carrots, and kumara. These were over an open pit containing hot rocks, which had been heated white hot by burning wood (which is removed before cooking), and covered with cloths and sacks (traditionally flax and mud). The food steamed for three hours over the rocks. We were told that traditionally, the meat could have been human: the Maori were cannibals before they became Christians. The rolling eyes and waving tongue in their warrior's challenge mean "your flesh looks good, and soon you will be in my belly".

We went into the banquet hall and were served buffet style, one table at a time. Everything was really tasty. There were mussels and cole slaw too, and breads. Seconds were permitted, but I stuffed my plate well to begin with, and was still eating when desert was served (a bit prematurely, perhaps). The desert was pudding. Alcohol was available for purchase, if desired. Afterward, there were more songs. Overall it was a very enjoyable night, and it was too bad it had to end so soon.

Finally, we boarded the busses for the ride home. The driver told our "chief" that his job wasn't done yet, and gave him a microphone with a long cord to pass around to get people to introduce themselves and hopefully, to sing a song. We got back to the hostel shortly after closing time at 10 PM, and used the pass code to open the door.

Copyright Scott A. Yost, 1996. All rights reserved.