Rotorua


Rotorua is known for the Maori villages, Tamaki and Te Puia [Te Puuja]. It was possible to just spend an evening at Tamaki, or stay overnight. I stayed overnight to get some quite deep insights in the Maori culture. And the price is worth it! I enjoyed it soo much, learning their alphabet, a Haka, sleeping in a hut designed like ancient ones, hearing about all the stories, taking part in a meeting of tribes ceremony and spending a little bit of time of the night in a hot pool. 


The next day I stayed at Base Backpackers Rotorua, where I met Sophia (whom I met in the bus to Hot Water Beach) again. We more or less spontaneously decided to do a walk in the Redwood forests, and in total we walked 20km on that walk, weh ad a great time and then had dinner together. My night at Base was horrible, I first couldn’t sleep and then woke up at 3:30am not beeing able to go back to sleep for over an hour again. I had some weird roommates, felt like something was crawling on my skin the whole time and my head itched very hard.


On the way to Taupo, we had the choice of visiting Maori village Te Puia or having a walk in the Redwood forests, easy decision. Very special for Rotorua in general are the hot springs, and Te Puia has the biggest Geysir in the southern hemisphere ( the one I saw in Iceland really impressed our guide). Our guides name was Taima, and she explained to us that her tribe runs both Maori villages in Rotorua. That means that the Maoris working in the two villages are all related somehow. She cooked some eggs in one oft he hot springs for us, and made it possible for us to see Te Pohutu, the geysir . Our busdriver wanted to leave at 11:50, and Paima told him we will be back at twelvish. Afterwards I thought I lost my powerbank in the village, but luckily it just moved in my backpack.












First time I saw Te Pohutu erupt


 7 minutes to cook a egg in this
 20 min waiting was worth it!

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