Apr 25th: Huka and Haka

Day 22 (Day 18 in New Zealand)

Some of you may have spotted one or both of us wearing a poppy in recent photos. This is because today, Apr 25th, is ANZAC Day here in New Zealand and Australia. Click the link for more info should you want it.

After yesterday’s glorious sunshine we awoke to find a) it was a drizzly, grey day and, b) someone had quietly stolen our volcano and replaced it with a trillion tons of cotton wool.

The rain soon stopped but it remained fairly overcast for the whole day. First (brief) stop on our 130 mile journey from Hiropito to Rotorua was to take a photo of Lake Taupo, the largest in New Zealand (29 x 21 miles).

Then it was on a short way to Huka Falls. Absolutely stunning breathtaking falls. It was the first attraction we had visited on this holiday that was packed with people. The reasons for this are they are: a) stunning, b) a few steps from the car park, and c) free. 

We took dozens of photos but the ones on Wikipedia are almost exactly the same so click the link above and look at those. Here are a couple of ours. 



I wanted to load one of our video clips of kayakers going over the falls but “computer says no” so I’ll try again tomorrow.

Still can’t do it so here is some drone footage from YouTube to give you an idea of what we saw.

Did you know? 220 cubic meters of water go over those falls every second.

Our final leg of our journey took us to our home for nights on the shores (literally) of Lake Rotorua. We were gobsmacked when we saw it. Far better than it looked online. We have a studio with a balcony overlooking Lake Rotorua.

(Hooray! A short video taken on the next morning was ok. Still a bit grey but the sun is breaking through.)

Once we had settled in we had to drive 20 minutes for our pre-booked Maori experience evening. I was worried we may have paid a lot of money for a touristy gimmick. I needn’t have been. It was fantastic.

We were welcomed with 2 guys performing Maori songs before the introduction. During the evening we saw demonstrations of how their ancestors arrived from Tahiti by canoe, a Maori show featuring their weapons, games, sports, etc) and, of course, the Haka. Very close up. We had front row seats. (Again, video loading problems. Will try again but it’s mid morning and we need to be out holidaying). 

Then it was time for a feast cooked in a ‘hangi’ or earth oven. Masses of food and it was all delicious.  

A cracking day was rounded off with a video calll to David, Daisy and Italy. She seemed chuffed that it was our bedtime but not hers!



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