Life With The Maori's

I Dont Think I Quite Have The Scary Maori Look Quite Yet

So I have been in New Zealand for about two months so far. I'm still living and working in Taupo although am soon departing for more work up in Auckland. Life here is great. We have been in our hostel long enough now that we are friends with all the workers and everyone else who pops in now and again to stay. Work is still exciting, although the scenic hour and a half walk there and then back again is now on hold since I have damaged my foot and am now on 14 painkiller tablets a day. I'm getting lifts in now.

Yet, in all the time I have spent travelling around NZ I still haven't experienced the real Maori culture. I mean, you see the Maori's everwhere, especially around Taupo (actually pronounced toe-paw) which is a bit of a cultural Maori heartland along with Rotorua up north. So Darren and I decided to go on a Maori village visit. The Wairakei Terraces are actually just north of where I am working. It's an actual Maori village and they do weekly trips for visitors to see some of the culture.

You get a guided walk around the village where you have to greet the Maori's in traditional style (the hongi) in which you touch noses and foreheads with each of your hosts. You learn about when and how they came over to NZ from French Polynesia and how they have lived their life since that time. You learn about their beliefs, why they tatoo their faces and learn their games. You also get to see the geothermal pools (like we had seen up in Rotorua) and the silica terraces which form as silica crystallises out of the rich underground waters.

Later you have a traditional hangi meal, in which all food is cooked under a clay pot buried in the ground and heated by the Earth's geothermal power. Essentailly we had a fantastic roast but it was cooked underground instead of in an oven - it was deliceous though. Finally we got to see a Maori performance. There were a couple of special dances and songs before they performed the Maori war dance - The Haka, which was made famous by New Zealand's All Blacks rugby team and which scared the hell out of Darren.

Then of course they get people up on stage to learn it too. Why I am suprised that they picked me I don't know. To the amusement of the audience and mostly Darren, I end up looking like a complete idiot attempting to look scary while actually looking as though I should be in Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' music video.

It was great to get a bit of a Maori cultural injection so now I have an idea of the incredible native people who I walk past ever day. I also now know how to perform The Haka with expert precision - so I will be scarying the pants off you all when I return.