Aoteatpa-->Land of the Long White Cloud= New Zealand
Day 2 of our orientation began with a three hour drive with our bus driver Eric, who shared a bit of information with us about New Zealand-the good and the bad. I was excited when I learned that 70% of New Zealand's electricity is from renewable energy, but not excited to hear that they have an overabundance of dairy farms, to the point which they have serious issues from the run off and keeping their water sources clean. Also, despite the abundance of milk being produced in this country, it is very expensive because most of it is shipped to other countries in powdered form and the dairy farmers make it big it seems by the look of their houses. Unfortunately, even though New Zealand takes pride with being more self-reliant and it's easy to find things everywhere that are made in New Zealand with at least some local products, everything is so bloody expensive.
That afternoon we had our 2nd Australearn session with Paul (good thing too, he does so well with keeping us awake with his humour). After that our day became much more interesting and exciting: we got a lesson on the meaning and history of the Haka! And on top of that we got to learn a real Haka and dress up and perform.
Haka: A war chant or dance that focuses your energy and allows you to call on your ancestor to give you energy and strength to kill the enemy you are about to fight. It’s also to intimidate the enemy you hope to kill (this is where they make their eyes pop and stick out their tongue in that aggressive face which is actually pretty scary when you see people who do it really well-I would not be their enemy). Your showing them you are coming at them to kill them and you have all your strength and the backing of your ancestors (the Maori were pretty violent-they had many wars between the tribes all over the Island).
Each tribe had their own Haka and it told a story. The Haka we learned was the Haka of one of the most feared war chiefs ever in New Zealand that lived about 200 years ago. Surprisingly, he didn’t do a Haka about his massacring of villages, but of the time a chief and his wife saved his life when he was younger (and not yet a feared war chief) and being chased by warriors. They hid him and the woman stood over his hiding place to protect him (it should be noted here that no Maori man will go through or under a woman’s legs, for they are, along with being a place of birth, the gateway to the underworld. It had to do something with a legend of a woman killing a man by snapping his legs or maybe snapping him with her legs, I’m not sure exactly). Never would have guessed a great war chief would chant basically about a woman’s “hairy part” saving his life.
Between practice time and performance time (where yes we did dress up, please refer to pictures on facebook, I may get around to putting them on photo bucket but that’s a slow program) we played flag rugby, which was actually pretty fun. For those who don’t know, rugby is NZ’s national sport and they are pretty obsessed with it, especially with the World Cup coming up in September in NZ. Go All Blacks!
Friday July 1st, 2011
Our adventure day! It turned out to be pretty awesome, despite the long drive (2 hours to Waitomo and then back). I’m afraid I may take up a new expensive hobby: caving. I had no idea how active, beautiful, and awesome it could be. We rappelled down about 3 waterfalls, lowered down a 4th (because it was a narrow opening), ran through waterfalls to get to the next passage, and climbed up rock walls and ladders (as well as over and across them). During all this we saw huge caverns, beautiful stalactites and stalagmites, and glow worms. I have a new respect for cavers who explore the unexplored. They may have the same guts, if not more than alpine rock climbers. Like in the case of our cave, if we continued down the river instead of veering off, we would have to swim under water several times to reach the next cavern and eventually where the river comes out on the surface. Imagine just going on a whim, dunking your head under water, swimming under a rock wall, and just hoping that there is an opening big enough for you to come up for air in time. And our cave was discovered in 1901, mapped out completely I think in the 60’s.
We had two Kiwi men as our guides; one older man with a laid back sense of humour who has clearly been doing caving for a long time; has probably been through that cave countless times. I was impressed when he rappelled down the first waterfall: he basically ran down it face first, letting the rope fly through his device. Our other guide was much younger and quieter but still pretty cool. He had black curly hair and looked a lot like a Hobbit (minus the height and I can’t confirm the hairy feet).
We ended our adventure with a late lunch of amazing pizzas and watching “Boy” (NZ movie, I highly recommend it) for the ride home.
Saturday July 2nd, 2011
This was our free day where we could go through a tourist company and do a number of awesome, overpriced activities (rafting, zorbing, zip lining, etc) or go explore the area on your own for free. I of course, chose the free option (eventually I definitely need to get around to zorbing); good thing too, because I had to finally go see the doctor that morning (who turned out to be yet another funny and very laid back Kiwi and who didn’t seem to be keen on squeezing as much money out of me as she could). Go figure, the one time I get giardia I get it right before leaving for New Zealand. Fortunately, I didn’t have it nearly as bad as some of the stories I’ve heard. And the medicine I got knocked it out in 24 hours (just in time to enjoy the Maori dinner the next night).
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