Rotorua
Yesterday we transferred to Rotorua via a brief stop in the Wellington airport, which was kind of wild.
Lord of the Rings props hanging from the ceiling in Wellington.
On our way from the airport to the hotel we stopped for a canopy tour at a forestry.
We got our first good look at the iconic silver leaf fern. The underside of the leaf is so reflective that the Maori use them like bread crumbs to show a path. The leaves have the additional advantage that you can lay them down pointing out the direction to go.
Underside of one silver leaf fern leaf.
Canopy walk
One way only, and bouncy.
Interesting light. Mostly dark, with occasional spots of bright sun. This is the shadow of a tree on a tree.
Trees here are ... different.
Today we had a relaxed start, heading out to the Kiwi hatchery at 8:30. The Kiwi bird, actually 5 species of birds, are endagered because of the invasive creatures brought to New Zealand by people, both Maori and English. We weren’t allowed to take photos of the Kiwi, when would have been difficult anyway because they are nocturnal. We got a few furtive glimpses of them in their darkened habitats. Then we got to see their trove of eggs that the hatchery is incubating at various stages of ripeness, all the way to the newborn chicks.
Our next stop was Whakarewarewa, a Maori village, where we learned some about Maori history and practices, including a little bit about tattoos. There are Maori symbols all over and around the meeting house.
Topknot of the meeting house
This next one is probably the wide-eyed open-mouthed tongue-out, “i’m going to eat you”, war face akin to the second face on the totem above, but I get a whole other image when I look at it.
I should have asked about the symbology here.
One of the most interesting parts of our tour was an Anglican church in the Maori village. It had aspects of a regular Christian church, but also much iconography from Maori religion and art. Their hymnals had songs in both English and the Maori tongue.
More stained glass amid Maori patterns.
And the very healthy and independent neighborhood/church cat.
Open, sulfurous, near-boiling pools are common around the neighborhood. They fence them off and otherwise discourage people from hurting themselves. The residents, of course, know better -- this is mostly for us tourists.
After a nice lunch at the village, a subset of our group went on a zipline tour of a rainforest.
Our canopy tour group.
I just made it through the hardest part, a longish suspension bridge.
This little bird, or many little birds like him, followed us along the course. The guides have worms that the feed the birds, who patiently wait nearby for a hand out.