Rafting and a Maori Homestay

Rafting through the beautiful rainforest on the Kaitiaki River.

The highest vertical drop in the world for white water rafting, seven metres.

Tuesday, January 5^th.

We were served a lovely continental breakfast in our rooms by our hostess Kathy. After that we packed and left. We drove for a couple of hours to our first activity. Two of the group opted to try the OGO ride, which is being in a large plastic ball with a little water and rolled down a hill. Sounds crazy but seemed a bit tame when we watched. They however loved it. 

From there we continued into Rotorua where Jan Eric, Nicola, Marie and I were dropped off to meet our next tour. While the rest of the group were off to a spa we were going white water rafting on the Kaitiaki River. The river is an important site for the Maori of the area and the rafting guides chanted a Maori prayer to it. The river is beautiful, narrow and lined with lush ferns and trees. The rapids are pretty tame except for two that go over water falls. One is a two tiered one and the other is a seven metre drop straight down. That was interesting in a five metre raft. Five rafts and only one person fell out. There were 'heaps' of rapids and they were really 'flash' and 'sweet as'. Later we were encouraged to jump out, hang onto the raft and go through a small set of rapids. 

At the end we were driven back to town to meet the rest of our group before driving to our overnight destination Tamaki Maori village. There were lots of other tour groups as well as us. Initially I was disappointed as were met by Maori wearing souvenir t-shirts. But after telling us some facts about their culture and giving us afternoon tea, we were divided into groups and led through the village to different homes where they explained different facets of their traditions. They explained about the face painting (which was horribly painful and from which some men actually died), the making of their weapons and homes, their facial expressions, their games and songs, and their food. Then they showed us how the cook their food in underground bbq pits that are covered (like the people in Wadi Rum in Jordan). Then we were taken to a theatre where they performed their traditional dances and songs. 

Finally we headed to the dinning hall where we enjoyed a wonderful feast of potato, sweet potato, carrots, chicken, lamb and fish, with a number of local desserts as well. Most of the rest of the tourists left on their buses, but we were shown what we could do before we went to sleep in our communal dormitory rooms. There were three hot tubs and a small bar equipped with an outdoor fire pit. I sat in a hot tub for a while with Nicola and Lori before heading back to the room to upload the photos and write up the journal. Great day. No wi-fi here.