Kia Ora

Wheeee! That was fun! Can’t quite make up my mind if it was a bit too ‘touristy’, but what the heck! Te Po is a big place set up on ancient maori grounds by the only two thermal geysers in N.Z. and happens to be just a couple of hundred metres up the road from our motel! Handy!

They started by giving the customary greeting ‘Kia Ora’ and whilst the rest of the tourist crowd muttered ‘Kia Ora’ back in a pretty muted response, muggins here shouted it out loud (well it was what you were meant to do!)

We were then taken to the maori grounds to be challenged by a fierce warrior…

before being taken inside for lots of maori chanting, singing, poi twirling and the ubiquitous haka.

Which they then wanted some men to join in with on the stage. Well I couldn’t resist that now, could I!

After that  we were taken for the traditional ground cooked meal, follwed by the ‘traditional’ puddings. Not sure where the trifle came into that equation, but I’m not arguing! After an initial attempt at trying to make conversation with the other guests at our table, I gave up and tried to make Suz laugh instead, with my world famous fingermouse impressions using shrimp heads.

After everyone finished eating though they loosened up (‘cept for the Germans, who didn’t) and we got chatting with a French pair and an Aussie couple. Really nice, so we all swapped stories and recommendations of nice places.

After dinner, we then went on to see the geysers in action, and they were great! The spray kept drifting my way, and trying to ruin a good photo, so these probably aren’t the best…

but add a rotten egg or two to that photo, and you get the general idea!

Our guide then pointed out the southern cross to us, which we then had to point out to the french couple who couldn’t seem to understand why it didn’t actually look like the Great Bear or Polaris, so we settled on it being interesting due to it being on the flag, and left it at that.

So more hot action tomorrow, as we’re going to Wai-O-Taupo to check out the bubbling mud pools and ‘champagne lake’ (I’m already getting prepared for the disappointment that this isn’t actually going to be what I think it is going to be), before heading on to Lake Taupo proper for all sorts of fun!