After our Hobbiton visit, we hit the road again, this time on our way to Rotorua to visit the Te Puia Geothermal Valley, along with the Maori culture centre situated in the middle of the geothermal activity and famous Pohutu geyser. 

The entrance to the park and cultural centre was an amazingly beautiful and intricate carved arch to welcome all of the visitors. We started off by taking a quick look at the main guiser that the park is best known for, before heading back to the ceremonial village for a Haka that would take place just mid-afternoon.

The Haka was entertaining, interesting, and educational. It was wonderful to learn about Mauri culture from the Mauri people themselves and in the context of a traditional Mauri village. The guiser nearby is a sacred site as well, so it was wonderful to be able to learn about the connections the Mauri people have to active geothermal sites across Aotearoa (aka New Zealand).

Our guide also told us about one of the longest place names in Mauri, which is, Te Whakarewarewatangaoteopetauaawahiao, which translates to English means, The war dance of the war parties of Wāhiao.

Once the tour was over we wandered around the park on our own and saw some amazing ponds of scalding hot bubbling mud, which is something I’ve never seen in Canada.

All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Te Puia and highly recommend it to anyone who visits the Rotorua area of New Zealand and would like to learn more about the Maori people and their culture.

Late in the afternoon, we hopped back in our rental car to drive to our hotel on the shore of Lake Taupo, in preparation for our Tongariro Crossing (aka Mount Doom) hike the next morning.