Rotorua: Visit to a Maori Village and a Redwood Forest

Our next stop on our Kiwi wanderings was to Rotorua, a town set on its namesake lake (still on New Zealand’s North Island), known for its geothermal activity and Maori culture. Locals also call it “Rotovegas” because it is the epicenter of all sorts of tourist and action-filled activities for the mostly younger set. To be honest, we didn’t see the comparison – appears to be relatively calm when we passed through, but maybe we caught it on an off week! We stayed at an Airbnb that was the downstairs of a family home with young children. We barely saw the hosts, but the room Ruthie and Tori stayed in was obviously where a few of the youngsters bunked up (bunk beds) when the suite wasn’t rented out. It was a bit like a slumber party for the ladies.

In any case, our main goal here was to get a taste of Maori culture – and we certainly did. Given all the places we were trying to pack in while on the North Island, our stay in Rotorua was very brief – and that was fine. We arranged in advance to attend a traditional Maori “experience” – and it really was a lot of fun. The attending tourists (including us) were divided into “tribes” defined by which bus we arrived on, and we had to choose a “chief” for the ceremonial parts of the village visit. The young man we appointed was from New Jersey, and he’d been studying Maori culture – he was honored and stoked to be THE guy! First, we witnessed a solemn meeting of the visiting chiefs with the village chief and guards – called the “haka” – this is a ceremonial dance or challenge in Māori culture. It is a posture dance performed by a group, with vigorous movements and stamping of the feet with rhythmically shouted accompaniment. Then we were taken through a combination Maori history lesson and interactive learning activities that really were a ton of fun. The tribe members – both men and women – who conducted the tour were dressed in traditional garb and makeup (tattoos on their faces and body). They did have a bit of fun with us as well…

I would say that Andrew got the award for being a really good sport by learning and performing some of the traditional warrior dance.

After the “hands on” learning we were treated to a song and dance performance by the tribe members, and then a feast called a Hāngi (Māori pronunciation: [ˈhaːŋi]) – a traditional New Zealand Māori method of cooking food using heated rocks buried in a pit oven, also called an umu.

Maori serenade
Hangi feast

Was this “touristy”? Yes. Was the experience worthwhile? I’d say so. The Maori people have a long and trying history in New Zealand – with some similar issues to the American Indians’ story. They have kept their culture alive through retaining strong community ties and – I believe – through the storytelling and sharing of experiences like what we had with people from other walks of life. I am really glad we took the time to do this.

Before we left Rotorua we took a long walk through the redwood forest that is part of this landscape. It was stunning and very peaceful – yet another example of the great care that New Zealanders take to retain and nurture the wide variety of natural beauty of these islands.