I’ll start with an observation: Many hotels and B&Bs proudly announce they have WiFi, either free or for a reasonable charge.
Reception in the room is mostly non-existent, so you have to sit in awkward places to get anything written.

Finally I decided to sit down at the i-Sites internet service in Wellington.

OK, so thats the excuse for not posting more often. Now over to Rotorua.

This is an area with a lot of geothermal activity. When the bus arrived, I thought ‘My, how many home owners are burning garden waste today!’ Not so. This is the place where next to all houses could end up with a hot water, or mud, pool in their garden. Some use it for heating, others don’t appreciate the sudden appearance of a geyser in the living room.

The Maori village of Te Whakarewarewa make commercial use of this, as they live on top of the thermal activity as they have always done, and proudly display this to visitors (paying). Not as touristy as one might think, and the guide stressed that we were kindly invited into her home. Heating, cooking, washing, and bathing, are the practical uses, while displaying it for tourists surely nets a good sum of money.

The museum gives a good run down of the local maori traditions and spiritual thinking, as well as the momentous eruption of mount Tarawera, after which some maoris were relocated to Te Whakarewarewa.

After another Maori visit, with the Mitai family, including a great show including lots of cultural information, and display of songs and traditions, including the haka, the war dance. Actually, I found the haka at Te Whakarewarewa more convincing… The end of the visit featured a hangi, i.e. a maori dinner cooked in the ground.

I’ll get back on the accomodation experiences later, but Sandi of the Sandi’s B&B surely went out of her way to help me get the most out of my short visit to Rotorua.