20170126: Tauranga and Rotorua

Thursday, January 26, 2017 Tauranga, Rotorua

Blue skies and a warm breeze greeted us as we found ourselves already docked in Tauranga when our alarm clock went off at 7:30. Our ship was docked behind the Celebrity X Solstice along a huge pier. We had breakfast in the buffet and met up with Jack and Sharon. 

We had booked a tour for all four of us through Viator to tour Tauranga and Rotorua. This is the center of Maori culture and agriculture. We started driving around the base of Mount Maunganui, which is a pretty good landmark to get your bearings in the area. We then drove along what was described as the best beach in New Zealand for major surfing competitions and triathlons. Along the beach front were the homes of the mega-wealthy.

Our guide said that real estate prices were being driven up by wealthy foreigners, and that homes in Auckland were beyond the means of most teachers. This was causing a shortage of teachers. There was one comment about borrowing Trump to do something about that. The next stop was a waterfalls where you can sometimes see extreme water sports fans careening over the falls in rafts, kayaks or bogie boards, but no-one was in the water, perhaps because the weather had been unseasonably cool and wet.

We then drove through some of the industrial areas and suburbs before ascending into farmlands with alpacas, sheep and dairy. He said we were taking the scenic route, and that we would return to the ship via a toll expressway after we were done in Rotorua. We the descended through a series of gorges with narrow switchbacks and narrow shoulders.

Off in the distance, our guide pointed out views of Mount Maunganui over our left shoulder. It was funny that he pulled over at what was a scheduled viewpoint to see Mount Maunganui and our cruise ship, but new houses were constructed within the last few months that obliterated that view, but we could peek between the houses to see them after all.

We eventually rose over a crest of a hill revealing lake Rotorua, which is a shallow but large lake. An earthquake 200 years ago caused the earth's crust to rupture over a 17 mile long area and caused the lake's level to rise 30'. There is an island in the middle, kind of like Wizard Island in Crater lake, although Crater Lake is much deeper and bluer. The waters at one end of the lake are severely polluted with sulfur and other minerals because there is a lot of geothermal activity along that shore. 

We arrived at our main destination, a Maori cultural center called Te Puia. It is a place that includes some of the most active geothermal sites in Rotorua, and combines this with a Maori cultural center kind of like the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii, but only with Maori exhibits. The geothermal sites were like Yellowstone, and Iceland. 

We were fortunate to catch two of the major geysers erupting, shooting streams of boiling water like a pair of fire hoses at a 45 degree angle to each other. There were also steam vents, bubbling mud pools, and fumaroles filled with boiling water. They use one of the steam vents to cook meals served in the cafeteria. The mud pools were called the Frog Pond because when the steam would erupt in a bubble, this usually was accompanied by a frog sized blob of mud that would shoot in a parabolic trajectory from one mud pot to the next, looking like frogs jumping around. One annoying feature was a large drone buzzing around like an enormous wasp above one of the boardwalks. Park employees were stationed there with an iPad and were selling tourists drone shot video of tourists standing on the boardwalk with the geysers in the background.

The cultural center features a large marae, or ceremonial house, where they do scheduled performances introducing some Maori customs and traditions. They put on a very good show with very talented performers, but we noticed that none of the women had the tattoos around the lips and chin that considered customary in some Maori clans. The performance was very much like the demonstrations we have seen at the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii. 

They also have workshops where Maori artisans learn and practice skills such as wood carving and textile arts. It was very interesting to see how they take a flax leaf, and strip it down to bare fibers with a green-lipped mussel shell, and then spin the fibers into twine on their calves. This technique also removes hair at the same time. 

They have a Kiwi bird house that has one female Kiwi living in it. These birds are extremely endangered, and nocturnal, so it is very rare to spot one in the wild. The enclosure was pitch black, and I couldn't see the person in front of me in line, let alone a Kiwi bird, although the person next to me did see it, as well as Jack and Sharon. They said it was surprisingly fast, zooming from one part of the enclosure to another. I'll have to remember to bring night vision goggles next time. They did have a stuffed Kiwi on display, as well as a stuffed stoat, which is a small ferret like animal that was originally imported to get rid of rabbits, but which instead made it a habit to feed on bird eggs. The rabbits were just too fast. New Zealanders and Australians have issues with the stoats causing extinctions of many bird species. When we were on Quad runners in Wellington, we saw stoat traps set up along a fence line.

We were taken to the Lakeside Cafe on the shores of Lake Rotorua for lunch. We had fish and chips. You have to buy ketchup and tarter sauce. The ketchup was made by a division of Heinz, but was called "New Zealand's favorite Tomato Sauce". This tasted nothing like American ketchup. It had a hint of cloves, which was distracting. I guess if you ever decide to live amongst the Kiwi's, you had better learn to eat your chips (French fries) without ketchup.

The last stop was a Kiwi fruit farm. Jack said that Kiwi fruit were actually Chinese Gooseberries. These were imported to New Zealand, where careful breeding efforts have produced two local strains, the Green and Yellow kiwi fruits. The green ones were what you normally see in a grocery store. 

The yellow kiwi fruits have an almost smooth skin, and yellow to gold colored flesh. The flavor is similar, and both are sweeter and milder than the Chinese Gooseberries. We learned that the leading producer of Kiwi fruit in the world is Italy. Who knew? New Zealand is number 2.

Our final stage show on the ship was a song and dance tribute to broadway artists, and it was another entertaining show. We brought our remaining bottle of wine to the theatre and finished it off while watching the show. There was a big party on the pool deck to celebrate Australia Day. 

They had a pie eating contest, egg in spoon races, and line dancing. The Aussies sure know how to have a good time. We chose to finish packing and retire early, saddened by the knowledge that this was our last night on this cruise. We arrive and disembark in Auckland in the morning.