Kea Ora!

The challenge gretting
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The region around Rotorua is also renowned for it's link to the Maori culture.  The

Maori's are the New Zealand natives and I've been impressed with how recognized they are by the culture.   I'm sure the relations aren't perfect, but they are certainly more visible than any other native population that I'm aware of.

We were told by everyone that we needed to experience a hangi while we were in New Zealand. The hangi is a meal cooked in the Earth with hot rocks and water placed at the bottom of a pit, then covered with meat and vegetables. The food is then covered with the earth and let cook for about 4 hours. The result is a smoky, steamed meal similar to something cooked in a crock pot. It sounded delicious to us so we signed up for a hangi feast and cultural experience put on by local Maori. We were picked up at our hostel and driven out to a mock pre-European Maori village. There we were given the traditional challenge greeting and walked around the "village" learning about weaving, cooking, tatoos, etc. It was a little bit theme park but we did go to school in Williamsburg so we can appreciate it. Then there was a showcase of music, weaponry and the famous huka. Then we ate and the food was excellent. Since we'd been subsisting on peanut butter sandwiches and fruit for the last few days we definitely appreciated the real meal. The food and show were great but the highlight of the evening was our bus driver Mark. He greeted our bus in 58 different languages. It was very impressive, espiecially since he seemed to grasp all of the accents. He was an obsessed rugby fan (like a lot of Kiwis) and quite entertaining. On the way home he made everyone sing songs from their country and Haven and I obliged with a horrible rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. Overall a lot of fun.

The village
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And in case you are wondering, Kea Ora (not sure if that is spelled correctly) is the traditional Maori greeting which they used quite a lot.