We left the Agrodome around 2:30 pm and headed through Rotorua. This whole area is one giant volcanic crater. The city has a big problem with steam vents suddenly popping up and melting the asphalt of the roads. We drove around the large lake, got a brief tour of the city... past the spas and some rousing games of bocce ball, then out to Te Puia.

We were met by our guide who marked us with purple wrist bands. We were then led to... (ok, so take a big breath and say it with me, keeping in mind that 'wh' is pronounced like 'f')... Te Whakarewarewatangaoteopetauaawahiao, which simply means "the gathering place for the war parties of Wahiao."

We began with an outdoor greeting ceremony. We chose an honorary king from among us (a tourist from South Africa) and a Maori warrior ran out to extend an official welcome. We then followed our new king into the sacred building.

The Maori await us.

A warrior runs out to greet the king.

The performance that followed was a range of chanting, songs and performances with various sticks and other objects. Much of it was accompanied by a guitar, which I had to doubt they had in the past, so I'm not sure how authentic and traditional it really was. But it was entertaining... especially with the "puka" (the war face with the wide eyes and tongue stuck way out, which was intended to show defiance), yelling and variety of stances.

Performance with the long sticks...

... some short sticks...

... and some tethered balls (called poi).

The warriors in action

The puka face

Tourists attempt the puka face. Our "king" (second from left) did the best job.

This face is often shown in the artwork as well... wide eyes, long tongue.

In the same complex was also the geothermal fields. We once again followed our guide who quaintly referred to our group as "my family". On the way, she talked about the living fence (made of ponga, a large fern tree) and silver ferns.

The living fence

The Maori used the bright leaves to mark trails, like the Hansel & Gretel bread crumbs, since it would glow in the moonlight at night.

We stopped briefly in a large kiwi exhibit. Again, no photos were allowed. The two birds were currently being separated by a small wall because the female (who was dominant) had recently hurt her hip while beating up the male. Kiwis live 35 - 40 years. The female was 14 years old and born here; the male was 8 and they got him when he was 3 years old. Erin, our bus driver/guide, had played a tape with kiwi calls. Interesting sounds!

We entered the small building. The exhibit was behind a wall of glass since it has to be kept pretty cold (around 48 degrees F) to mimic nighttime temperatures. In the first section, the female was cleaning herself right up next to the glass. We could see her very clearly in spite of the dim light. Again, much bigger than I expected! In the next pen, the male was also very clear to see. He was running around very quickly... although "run" isn't quite the right word.. he was more "bouncing," with a definitely hop to his quick steps.

We then walked out to the geothermal fields. Our first stop was the Ngamokaiakoko Mudpool. Because of the extreme drought, the mud had dried up a lot. Some parts of the field were inactive. The rest had formed volcano-like mounds. Normally they are flat. They still get up to 200 degrees F though.

Hot mud spurts from one of the cones.

Sections of the field were completely dried up and inactive.

This doesn't seem like a good location to build... right on the edge of an unstable hot spot.

We walked across a long bridge (made of special cement to withstand the extreme temperatures) to get a view of Pohutu Geyser (meaning "constant splashing"). It goes quite frequently but irregularly. It was currently spurting a good 10 - 15 feet. Our guide told us that was the start of the eruption, but it could still be a bit before it actually really let loose.

Pohutu Geyser

Bright yellow sulphur patches

Steaming rocks

We then got 15 minutes to walk around by ourselves. The smell of sulphur filled the air. The heat radiated from the ground and there was the occasional spray of water from the geyser carried on the breeze.

Much of the area was dried out.

At shortly before 5 pm, we started the drive back to Auckland. We got some water and a half sandwich for the journey. We stopped by Maitata to pick up a bunch of the people who had split off of the tour at the Agrodome. They went instead to see Hobbiton. Ann was one of these. She said it was really enjoyable but you could only go inside one of the Hobbit houses... and then even it was only a few feet big. She said what was interesting was that they had many different sizes of the same doorways to show the size of the different characters (put an actor in front of a small door and he looks big; put an actor in front of a giant door and he looks small).

These small hills are plugged volcanic vents.

The stone core was created from molten lava and eventually covered with earth.

Sunset from the bus

A fiery reflection

We arrived in Auckland around 7:45 pm. I was transferred to a small shuttle bus and dropped off at hostel just after 8 pm. What a long day! For more info on this tour company, be sure to check out their website: www.greatsights.co.nz

The Austrian girl was gone and replaced by a woman from Switzerland. I had some cold pizza and went to bed.