The site was beautiful, lush greenery and with a cooler air about it. After another good nights sleep it was an early start to get ready for our visit to the living Maori Village; the village is owned by the Tuhourangi Ngati Wahiao people and is completely worked by them, a great example of an eco-village.
On entering the village we were greeted by the children asking us to throw coins into a hot pool where they would dive to retrieve their rewards, a contradiction of generations. The ground was hot under foot as it has geothermal vents.
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| Ecological Slow \Cooker |
We joined a guided tour and learned that to be a tour guide is a very well respected job and is given to village elders, after the tour you can sped as much time as you wish in the village, my top highlight, was to watch the cultural show.
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| Cooking sweetcorn |
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So good it watched it twice!
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Food was cooked in the hot ground; sweetcorn is wrapped in bags and dropped into a thermal pool, meat is wrapped or put into pots before dropping into a box in the ground, once ready it is served in
the cafe, all very self sufficient and oh so ecological friendly. After the cultural show and lunch we wandered around the village looking at the shops, houses, churches - Anglican & Catholic, burial ground and then went to a viewpoint to watch the geyser "blow". The villages children attend Kindergarten and are taught in the Maori language. A fantastic experience. One that will stay with me.
Before we returned to Blue Lake resort we had a quick visit to the nearby Lake Tarawera. We sat on the peaceful lakeside eating an ice cream. A beautiful tranquil place surrounded by palms and mountains.
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| Lake Tarawera |
However, peace did not reign long, we heard a lot of noisy music and the sound of kazoos "playing"... then the sight of the amphibious craft appeared and headed straight into the water. Forgiven!!! We joined in the fun. Once back at the site we sat on the shores of Blue Lake - a watersports lake. We were watching the sun getting lower but noticed dark clouds appearing, hooray, we landed back at our camper just before a thunder storm - the first significant rain to date. We cooked and ate our evening meal in the communal facilities, always interesting to know what easy meals that fellow travellers can make! The rain persisted into the late evening.
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| Blue Lake |
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