Te Puia is a cultural tourism attraction of the Whakarewarewa geothermal valley and living Maori village, about three miles south of our house, on Hwy 30. All of our district missionaries were invited to come on a tour, free of charge, courtesy of Uncle Tux of the Fairy Springs Ward, who works there.
Elder and Sister Rooks in front of the Pōhutu geyser, the largest geyser in the southern hemisphere
Elder Rooks under the tiki entrance to Te Puia
Our tour started with the guide teaching us how to pronounce the full name of The Gathering Place for the War Parties of Wahaio, which is Te Whakarewarewatangaoteopetauaawahiao.
We first visited the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute, established in 1963 to support New Zealand's three main indigenous art forms: stone and bone carving, wood carving, and weaving.
Examples of carvings of the treasured pounamu, greenstone, a nephrite jade.
Traditional wood carvings found on the wharenui, meeting halls
Carving workshop. Students are taught in small groups and must be of Māori descent
The weaving workshop using the green strap-like leaves of the plants of the Phormium family, notably the Harakeke plant, or New Zealand flax.
Weavers generally create useful items such as netting, bags to boil food in geothermal springs, and the traditional Piupiu, dance kilt
They also create amazing flower arrangements
Following the tour of the NZMACI, we went through the art gallery, where you can spend tens of thousands on amazing and unique and very large and heavy art pieces. Here Elder Rippon joins us in front of an elaborately carved wharenui.
Next, we stopped in at the Te Puia Kiwi Conservation Centre, to photograph a display of a kiwi and its eggs, since we couldn't take photos of the live kiwis inside the exhibit. They are nocturnal creatures so the inside the exhibit mimics night time conditions. From the warnings outside of the Centre, dogs are one of the real threats to the endangered kiwi. The eggs, btw, are 1/5th of the size of the laying mother. Ouch.
Rotorua is famous for its mud pools, a feature of this geothermal area. The guide told us that people come to local spas to sit in the mud (although this particular mud was boiling), and that Rotorua mud was world famous as a cure.
This sign tells of the origins of Rotorua's reputation as a spa town: "Rotorua's reputation as a spa town began in 1878 when an Irish priest with bad arthritis bathed here, declared himself cured and walked 65 km home to Tauranga."
Elder Joyce with Uncle Tux, who works at Te Puia and invited us to come. I was told that when everyone knows you and you are part of the whanau, the family, whether you are related or not, you are known as Uncle or Auntie.
We reached the Pohutu geyser and its surrounding hot springs
...just in time to see it faithfully erupt amidst billows of steam
Pohutu may not be as high and spectacular as Old Faithful, but I think it is in a more beautiful setting, including the volcanic Bluey pool nearby
Our Rotorua district elders and sisters, including Elder Ingram of the Fairy Springs Ward, who was just set apart. The warning signs tell everyone to watch out for the heat when you are sitting here (which is why you sit here)
Elder Rooks, Elder Rippon, Elder Joyce, Elder Ingram, Sis. Nonu, Sis. Cleverley, Sis. Pancheri, and Sis. Lui kneeling
We were happy to see a tram waiting for us to take us back to the entrance
Sis. Lui, who is coming to the end of her time as a missionary and has been in most districts of the Hamilton New Zealand Mission, says we are lucky to be in Rotorua for our entire year here. She says it is one of the most interesting and beautiful of the areas, and the people are open and receptive to their message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We visited the marae with its meeting hall, which is large and ornate inside
Elder Joyce demonstrating the haka (ceremonial dance) grimace, quite successfully, I might add
Inside the meeting hall with chairs and a raised stage, which, our Kiwi Sis. Lui informed us, most wharenui do not have. Here she is demonstrating a ceremonial dance to Sis. Pancheri and Sis. Cleverley.
You had to pass through the Te Puia gift shop to exit the building. I couldn't resist this carved art piece signifying fish scales, one of the motifs used on the ceiling carvings of the meeting halls. It is hanging in our house, the only artwork on our long living room wall.
Also this bone heart pendant
At home, back to the prosaic. I was encouraged to see one of the trees which had appeared dead and covered with moss, to be blossoming profusely in the warming end of winter
We repotted the tomatoes in larger pots and they are appreciating the warmth and sunshine. Also I couldn't resist the basil and thyme plants in the grocery store. I found some terra cotta pots in the back yard to put them in.
This is fumitory officinalis, which I see growing everywhere, part of the Papaver family. It is a non-indigenous, low-growing weed which flourishes in New Zealand, unfortunately, since it is weak-stemmed and tends to scramble over other plants, including important agricultural ones.
Finally got a good shot of one of the Eurasian blackbirds
Mr. Pukeko, refined, elegant, and graceful as usual
