Today’s adventure consists of a float plane ride to see Orakei Korako and then visit the Mitai Village for a Maori performance and traditional hangi meal.
Gammy decided to sleep in and take it easy this morning. Someone needed to wait for a technician to fix the internet, which never really got fixed and it really was a let down trying to do anything web related. So we spent most of our time out and about.
Dotty, Jim, and I walked to the wharf and checked in at the Volcanic Air office with Alice. A nice man from England named Mark joined us on our adventure. Steve was our pilot and he flew us over the the lands and water till we landed in the river at Orakei. New Zealand runs on geothermal electricity. There are about 4 facilities we saw while flying.
Steve told us a story about a specific geyser that goes off everyday at 1015. They know it goes off every day at 1015 because “they” set it off every day at 1015, with a bar of soap. You see this geyser is where an old prison was and one day the men were washing their clothes in the hot water of the geothermal pool and what do their wondering eyes see, but a 8 tiny reindeer…oh sorry that is a different story. They see the geyser erupt. The geyser is actually in Waiotapu and is named Lady Knox Geyser after the 2nd daughter of the 15th governor of New Zealand.
We landed on the Waikato river going into Orakei Korako or the hidden valley. Steve gave us time to catch the ferry over to the island where the geothermal pools, boiling mud pools, and a cave are. We met up with a grandfather and his teenage grandchildren at the cave and being the personable people we are, the grandfather related a story from 60 years ago. He said his wife (she was not his wife then) was visiting the area with her family and the cave, which is now blocked off and you can only view it, was open for exploring down to the floor. Anyway, the wife lost her sandal and her father was furious. He made his daughter go back to retrieve her sandal, which then led to her losing the other sandal and well… finding someone else’s sandals in the process. Bless her heart. We did not hear what happened after that.
We finished the trek around the pools and taking pictures and made it back to the pickup point to catch the ferry (No, I did not even think about bringing Pony on this trip… I am a horrible person that Pony has never been in a float plane, nor got to ride in the little ferry across the river. ) and meet up with Steve.
Gammy was bright eyed and bushy tailed when we returned to the room, so we went out and about looking for food-kebabs. We found a pharmacy and I purchased some kawakawa balm to see if it would help my head to stop itching. We asked about kawakawa tea and was pointed towards a health store about 4 blocks away. So off we trek. We find the store, Gammy and Dotty purchase some tea (it really opens up your airways to breathe), found some more balm with kawakawa leaves and manuka oil (manuka not just for honey), along with some manuka honey cough drops.
Next up, lunch. Yes some of us are ruled by our stomachs. Right close to the heath shop was a Turkish kebab shop. Gammy, Jim, and I order the lamb kebabs, Dotty ordered a lamb pita. They were so filled with meat and a few vege on top that we couldn’t eat them. We wrapped the kebabs back up and headed back to the hotel for a lovely little rest before hitting the road to the Mitai Village.
The Mitai Village was a Māori cultural presentation and a hāngī dinner. Remember when I talked about the smoker at the hotel in Russell. I was amazed and tried to show in the picture that the wood was below rocks to cook the food. Apparently this is the field expedient way to make a hāngī dinner. Typical hāngī dinners start with a pit dug. The wood is laid at the bottom with the rocks on top. The wood is then lit and when it burns down and the rocks are hot, the food is then laid on top of the rocks and the pit is covered. Who knew all those years ago, when as a girl scout and we dug a pit so we could cook chili, we were following the Māori tradition?
The performance was very similar to the one we saw in Waitangi, with the exception of the warriors coming in on a waka taua (war canoe). Then the rest of the performance was in the performance hall. Not the eating hall. Eating is always kept separate from the work or performance done in the Meeting hall.
After the performance, we ate our hāngī dinner and then walked back along the dark, wet, slick, dangerous track to see gloworms on the sides of the rock overhang and the Māori village. Finally, we were able to ride the bus back to our hotel for a long overdue nap!
#HowFortunateWeAre #MakeOurOwnSunshine #AdventureOfALifetime
Such green on the hills!
And we call them “clam bakes”, not hangi dinners, just sayin’