Tamaki Cultural Village

After Hobbiton, we headed on to our stop for the night: Rotorua. While running around all the hobbit holes was completely worthwhile, the afternoon spent there meant we didn't have much time to see Rotorua, since our evening booked up with tickets to the Tamaki Maori Culture Show complete with a delicious Hangi.

The tour started at our hostel when a driver picked us up and started explaining how our evening would go, and chose one of our strong men to be a chief. Now I realize they are being true to history, but I really wish they would have offered women the chance to be chief so we could pretend genders were equal here in 2011. Then again, being a chief seemed a bit intimidating, and I guess I'm happy they didn't offer me the chance.  Moving on..

Three groups of tourists filed into an entrance area lead by their 3 chosen male chiefs to meet the tribe. The Maori males did their best to intimidate us with chanting, yelling, dancing, and advancing at us with spears. Graham, one of our chiefs, accepted the Maori gift of peace (a fern) and we were welcomed into their home to meet with the tribe and see how they would have lived before colonization. Their home was an accurate representation of the small huts they lived in before Europeans arrived - low buildings with small doors. Sometimes the huts were on stilts. The Maori were all very well informed, and each had a great sense of humour. They were joking about how they didn't live in huts anymore due to things like running water and Facebook. As someone who worked in Edmonton's historical park, I sympathized with them on this point as I've been asked if I live in the Fort at night. We wandered through the village and learned about music, games, dances, and other things they did with their time.

A bell rang, and we all gathered near the area where they cook the food known as the Hangi. In the morning, they placed meat (beef, lamb) and vegetables (carrots, potatoes) deep into the ground over stones heated by fire. The food cooked throughout the day, and we watched as they dug it up, steam rising from the ground and the delicious smell of food filling the air.

While they prepared the food, we were entertained by choreographed Maori song and dance (they dance with Poi which I have always found really cool) and told stories of some of their legends.

Finally, they called us into the dining hall. The wait did not disappoint. The food filled two tables, and Chantal and I celebrated our good life decisions by sharing a bottle of wine and eating way too much. Wonderful.