Rotorua - Cultural Centre

Rotorua is the cultural central of New Zealand. We had so much to get done there is only 2 days and here is just the start of our stay. We visited the Geothermal village and it was a wet and dreary day but it kind of made it all the more "authentic" I guess with the wet weather. I love wet weather but lets just say the ponchos provided did nothing for me so I kind of braved it while using the ponch as my camera protector :) Here are a couple of images from the village. I liked this juxtaposition of a symbol of christianity with the traditional maori carvings. There is something intriguing about it. On our second evening in Rotorua we arranged to take part in a cultural show and traditional hangi with Tamaki. This was the best cultural show I have seen and the entire program from getting off the bus at the village to getting off the bus at our hotel was fantastic. The evening started with a storytelling of how the Maori people came to be in New Zealand having come from Hawaiki and the journey they made. We then arrived at the pre-european Maori Village outside of Rotorua and were greeted traditionally which was quite frightening at first but in context I was breathtaken with the history we were seeing. After viewing the village and the different trades and areas you would typically have seen we were seated for the cultural show which was spectactular.