From Te Puia to Tauranga

For our final morning in Rotorua, Tina had invited us to the Te Puia museum and geothermal park to meet one of her fellow Maori weavers, Edna Pahewa. We met up with Tina at the lakefront downtown and she escorted us there herself. We had only really heard vague mention of Te Puia and hadn't investigated it so we had no idea what to expect. When we arrived, the staff clearly recognized Tina and we were immediately escorted behind the scenes to the weaving school classrooms. There we met Edna, the head weaver, who instructed Tina to take us to the ticketing office for our day passes. Tina then led us around the outdoor area, which turned out to be an impressive thermal park full of mud pots, geysers, and colorful steaming pools. She pointed out plants and birdsong along the way, and gave us some history about the site.

Mud pots

Steaming mineral terraces

Tourists cook their butts on the hot stone.

Mud volcano

Tina and I enjoy the view.

After the tour, Edna met us in the cafeteria and treated us to lunch there. Then we were taken to the woodcarving school where young men worked on large-scale carving projects. Afterward, we went back into the weaving school where we looked at several completed garments and in-progress projects. Edna even showed us a few of her techniques as she worked.

Unfinished carvings at the carving school

A flax woven garment and mat at the weaving school

A feathered garment

Enda, me, Mem, and Tina at the weaving school

Now it was time for the cultural show, similar to what we had seen at the Tamaki Maori Village the evening before. Again we gathered with a large crowd of visitors and one man, Dan from California, was appointed chief to act on our behalf in the welcoming ceremony. Once inside the marae (longhouse), the villagers performed a series of songs and demonstrations, a couple of which we had seen the night before, and a couple new ones. I was particularly impressed at the martial arts demonstration.

The chief comes out to intimidate/greet us

Singing the famous love song "Pokarekare Ana"

Mem snuggles up to a fierce warrior.

Now it was time for us to part ways. We expressed our utmost gratitude for this special experience and took a few pictures together. Then Tina drove us back to our car at the lakefront and we said our warm goodbyes.

We got into our silver Cruze and programmed our next stop into the GPS: Tauranga. My best friend since kindergarten, Melissa, had just moved there with her Kiwi husband and we were going to spend some time with them. Once again the road was winding and it rained while crazy drivers rode my ass the whole way, but we arrived in one piece. We stopped by Melissa's in Mount Maunganui to say hi and have a chat, and then went to check in at our AirBnB due west across the water. We met our hostess Jo and her flatmate, received a tour of the dwelling, dumped our suitcases, and went back to Mel's.

Warm reunion

Being goofs

Forever friends

Forever dorks

Mel, her husband Anton, Mem and I piled into the Cruze and headed into the little strip of shops at the foot of Mount Maunganui. First we went into a small pub and had beers and potato wedges as an appetizer. Next we hopped to another nearby pub for more beers and a pizza. Afterward, we headed back to their place for more beers and to watch Melissa and Anton's wedding video. I was designated driver, of course. Our visit lasted late into the evening during which copious beer was drunk and much laughter and reminiscing was had. We returned to our B&B around midnight and slept hard.