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We left Auckland
mid-afternoon and headed towards the east coast to a place called Mount
Maunganui and a pub/restaurant called "Astrolobe" where we were treated to
one of the best meals we had in New Zealand.
We were in this pub
for about four beers, chatting away to the bar-staff and smiling at the
bar manager each time the bar-staff mentioned us to him. Eventually we
got up and sat in front of the television showing the cricket and stared
at the bar manager until he finally realised that he knew us! I am
talking about ex-Ionian and good friend Stuart, known to most as Bok!
After taking a moment to work it all out, he hurled the peanuts he was
eating at us and ran round the bar to greet us properly and my ribs still
felt it the following day!
As he was working
until 1:00am we wandered down the road to another pub called "Latitude 37"
as Bok foolishly mentioned his girlfriend worked there! Not only did we
meet his girlfriend, but we also met her parents, who we sat and had a
very pleasant drink and chat with! How much do you think Stuart was
sweating during this time! Unfortunately I was bound by the "What goes on
tour, stays on tour" code of honour!
When we returned
Stuart had managed to wangle an early night so at 11:00pm he joined us and
the rest of the staff who wanted to get the gossip on their mate! Again
the code applied, but as Bok still cannot drink, his gob loosened up
pretty quickly and he kept spilling the beans on himself by reminiscing
about old times!
After the pub closed
at 1:00am we all hopped in a taxi to go clubbing, something Angela and
myself hadn't done in quite a while! We both think Stuart thought we were
mad as we just kept looking round and laughing all night! Luckily we did
manage to find a dodgy burger bar open at 4:00am and when we got back to
our motel that was the last time we stepped outside our room until 8:00pm
to go back to the pub! The second night however was just a couple of
beers and a fond farewell as we had to drive to Rotorua the following day.
Our motel in Rotorua
was next to a huge park, so we went for a wander around only to discover
that the park was covered in boiling mud pools, fumaroles and hot water
pools! We had researched which Thermal Parks we had wanted to pay and go
to, but this one was right next door and free!
The following day was
a washout, literally! It started raining at 7:30am and did not stop until
well past 10:00pm that evening and it was pretty torrential rain that did
not let off in the slightest. Despite the rain we went to a Maori
Cultural Village called "Maitai" where we had our first experience of
Maori customs, songs, dances, a Hangi and the infamous Haka.
A Hangi is a Maori
word for cooking cloth-lined, wire baskets of food in an outdoor pit using
red-hot, volcanic stones and wet, hessian, cloth sacks all covered in
soil. The volcanic stones are normally heated in a fire of latticed
branches that can support the stones until they are hot enough to use.
When the fire has burnt down the ash has to be removed or all the food
ends up tasting smoked. Hessian cloth sacks are soaked in water overnight
then laid on top of the stones to give extra protection to the food, and
provide water for steam. The food is placed in muslin, or white cotton,
lined wire baskets. These cloths are also soaked in water to prevent
burning and provide more water for steaming the food. The baskets are
then placed on top of the hessian sacks and covered with more wet hessian
sacks to keep the dirt off. The whole thing is then quickly covered with
soil to seal in heat and steam.
Once the Hangi is
buried, it's traditional to stand around drinking beer and watching for
leaking steam! Leaks have to be plugged quickly, using more soil. The
whole process can last three or four hours, depending on the quantity of
food being cooked, but more importantly the amount of beer you have!
Traditional Hangi
food is lamb and chicken, with root vegetables such as kumara (sweet
potato), pumpkin, carrot, corn and potato.
We also had some of
the Maori tattoos explained to us. The men have up to four tattoos on
their faces with different "add-ons" to represent their status within the
tribe. The four main tattoos are a bat, parrot, owl and kiwi. The women
in the tribe only have an owl, which is tattooed under their bottom lip.
The chief of the Maitai tribe also has 55 hours of tattoo work on his
legs, which represent the swirling waves of the ocean, with intricate
details of a stingray and hammerhead sharks entwined within it. Some
Maoris nowadays choose to paint their tattoos on their faces, although
many of the Maoris we met had undergone the traditional tattooing process
that Maoris use, which does not involve the use electrical tattooing
tools, but sharp blades and a hammer!
We enjoyed the
experience that much we booked to go to a different village the following
night. However, before that we did manage to dodge the rain and go to a
Maori Thermal Village called "Whakarewarewa."
At Whakarewarewa,
other than seeing the hot lakes, mud pools and "Pohutu" Geyser, we had
delicious corn on the cob cooked in a crystal clear hot water mineral pool
called "Parekohuru." The surface temperature of the water is 98 degrees
Celsius, but eighteen metres below the surface it is an incredible 280
degrees Celsius!
As we were leaving
the village we noticed young children jumping off the bridge into the
thermally heated warm water about five metres below. These kids are
known, as were their parents and grand-parents, as "Penny Divers." Why
"penny" divers, I will never know, because we ended up throwing $10 in $2
coins into the water, which is between two to three metres deep and very
muddy. Apparently, in high season, they can collect up to $1,000 a day!
We're in the wrong job! Still, it was very entertaining watching them
dive, grab a handful of mud and then re-surface to sift the mud and
hopefully find some coins.
The second Maori
village we went to was called "Tamaki" and I was elected chief of the
visitors, along with four other guys from different buses. When you
arrive at the village everyone has to wait behind the elected chiefs as
nobody must enter the village until the "Powhiri" (formal welcome) has
been performed. I was singled out by the Maori Warrior to accept the
"Teka" (peace offering).
During "Te Wero" (The
Challenge) an unbelievably intimidating array of gestures, guttural noises
and swipes of the Taiaha (spear) are made in very close proximity to you.
The peace offering is then laid in front of you, which is a small branch
from a Silver Fern. You then walk very slowly and deliberately forward,
pick it up and then, always facing the warrior, walk back to where you
were originally stood.
I knew that this was
going to be an exhilarating experience and very intimidating all at the
same time, I just never realised how much. Being eyeballed by the chief
throughout the challenge, then being chosen to pick up the peace offering
was amazing. However, to have all five warriors leap towards you,
screaming, and slash their Taiahas through the air and down at you just as
you go to pick up the fern scares the living daylights out of you! Even
though I knew that this was now mainly done for tourists, it is part of
their culture and they do take it very seriously. People have been
attacked by Maori warriors in the recent past for being disrespectful, or
making a wrong move.
The previous night
was great but, maybe because I was lucky enough to be chosen as "chief,"
this evening was spectacular. Firstly we walked around "Marae" (The
Village) seeing how Maoris used to live, but also seeing the traditions,
skills and customs they still practise and pass down to their children.
Then we heard the "Karanaga" (Welcome Call) and were invited into
"Wharenui" (The Big House) where, as chief, we were invited to sit in the
middle of the front row! Welcome speeches are made, one of which was
addressed to me, a welcome dance is performed, followed by the "Hongi"
(pressing of the noses). It is believed that as you press noses your
breath is as one and seals the bond of friendship between different
cultures. The Maoris then share a variety of traditional songs and dances
relating stories of their proud race. These include using the Poi, which
are large, white balls on twine that are gracefully swung and slapped
around the body in perfect time to the songs that are being performed. A
task which is nowhere near as easy as it looks!
The time in the Big
House is brought to a close with the Haka. Now the All Blacks may look
scary when they perform a small part of the Haka on a rugby pitch.
However, six Maori Warriors performing the full Haka, slapping their
chests harder than you can possibly imagine, whilst screaming,
gesticulating, stamping, chanting the Haka and pulling faces at you from
less than five feet away is real intimidation. The only way I can
describe it is to say that my goosebumps had goosebumps!
The evening was a
moment in time where I felt humbled, honoured, intimidated, exhilarated
and amazed all at once and will be a memory I treasure for the rest of my
life.
On our final day in
Rotorua we went to Hells Gate, named by George Bernard Shaw in the early
1900s! What's different about Hells Gate is that most of the other
thermal areas have their heat source about ten kilometres below the
surface, but here it is only two kilometres, making Hells Gate one of the
most active areas around. The highlights included the Inferno Pools,
which have a temperature of around 110 degrees Celsius due to the
naturally occurring minerals in the water which elevate the boiling
point. Kakahi Falls which are the largest hot water falls in the southern
hemisphere with an average temperature of 40 degrees Celsius. The Devils
Cauldron mud pool which has a temperature of 120 degrees Celsius and the
Mud Volcano, which is unique in New Zealand as they normally only get
about a metre high and this one was over two metres high.
Our next destination
was Golden Springs and the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Park. This had some amazing
sights that included the Lady Knox Geyser, the Devil's Bath, the Artists
Palette, the Champagne Pool, the Primrose Terraces and Lake Ngakoro. The
different colours in the pumus rock and forming on the pool surfaces are
purple, red, yellow, orange, white and green which are Manganese Oxide,
Ferrous Oxide, Sulphur, Antimony Oxide, Silica and Colloidal Sulphur.
Our final day in the
"thermal belt" took us to the "Craters of the Moon" Thermal Park which had
some enormous geothermal craters that smoked in a very spooky way. After
walking around Huka Falls we went to a prawn farm where Angela got to hand
feed baby prawns! We then spent three hours fishing for big prawns, in a
pond that had over 30,000 of them and we didn't manage to catch anything
but sunburn! Apparently it was too hot for them to feed! Still we had
plenty of fun when they did bite, we just could not hook one!
That evening we went
to a beautiful place called Taupo, where we watched the cricket and saw
another spectacular sunset over Lake Taupo.
From Taupo we started
to head south for Wellington, where we were due to attend what is billed
as, the best rugby party in the world!
So as we were heading
south we jumped in the car and logically drove north for a couple of
hours, through Cambridge, back to Hamilton! It was for three reasons
really! Firstly, we really wanted to just chill out and not do much, so we
returned to a great Motel that we had stayed at on the way up north a few
weeks previously. Secondly the Jaipur Indian Restaurant and thirdly the
Champions of the World rugby store.
Maybe an explanation
is required. We had been on the go for just under five months and were
knackered to say the least. The Bavaria Motel in Hamilton is fantastic as
it has big, well furnished, comfy rooms and free DVDs for watch. We got
our energy back by vegetating for a couple of days and doing nothing but
watch DVDs, apart from a visit to the Jaipur and the rugby store.
We had a take-away
from the curry house the first time, but this time we ate at the
restaurant and we were not disappointed, they make a curry almost as hot
as the Viceroy in Bricket Wood or the Natraj in Southampton.
The rugby store
involves a challenge that was laid down to me by the manager of the
Auckland Champions of the World rugby store to visit all their stores in
New Zealand.
After our two days of
rest and relaxation we headed to Wellington, stopping for another night in
New Plymouth just to break up the journey.
Wellington was really a blur of fancy-dress,
singing, beer, banter and a bit of rugby thrown in for good measure. We
stayed in a beautiful part of Wellington just a few steps from the top of
the cable-car that takes you into the heart of the city centre.
We stayed for another day after the sevens and
thought we had dreamt the previous two days as there was nobody around and
nothing was open! We really struggled to find anywhere to eat, even
McDonalds was closed! It was like being back in Christchurch, but
Wellington is New Zealand's capital!
Absolutely, Totally, Wellington! That is their
logo and they certainly lived up to it. If you had gone to Wellington on
the weekend of 3/4 February 2006 and didn't know the World Sevens had come
to town you would have wondered what the hell you had walked into. Two
out of three people were wearing fancy dress and there were some extreme
and bizarre examples of costumes!
The event starts the day before with a "Players
Parade" through the main street in Wellington. We managed to secure prime
position and attached our St. George's Cross on the railings. As the
players entered the main square for the formal introductions ours was the
first flag they could see. What we found funny was the England lads all
cheered us and gave us the thumbs up and a couple of them took photos of
us and the England flag while we took photos of them! We also managed to
get the flag signed by the entire squad and Angela blagged photos with
Henry Paul, Ben Gollings and Phil Greening. We then stood chatting with
Dave Strettle, one of the late additions to the squad who, along with Dave
Seymour, played outstandingly in the tournament.
It was an incredible event and everyone of the
34,500 seats were sold, although many people seemed to spend more time
wandering around looking at the costumes and having a beer than watching
the rugby! I was reliably informed that it is more of a party event than
a rugby event, but both aspects were enjoyed to the max by us!
Thanks to Darryl,
Jackie, Pete and Mrs Pete (sorry, but we never got soberly
introduced!) who were the Kiwis we sat next to. A very special thanks to
Mad "Get Your Flag Out" Margaret, who was the only non-English person to
cheer for England! These guys really helped make it a great event for
us. The Exponents song, "Why Does Love Do This To Me?" will definitely be
acquired and downloaded onto the iPod as this was sung just about every
fifteen minutes for two days, amongst many other great tracks. It took me
two days to get my voice back after the sevens!
The England boys, who won The Cup in Dubai were
missing Ugo Monye and Tom Varndell. However they managed to win "The
Plate" against Argentina, which is a sub-competition the losing
quarter-finalists go into. We did however manage to beat Australia on the
way! The Cup was won by Fiji who took the honours with an extra-time,
golden-point try against South Africa, after beating New Zealand in the
semi-final. |