Jan 31 - Te Puai

Our 4th and thankfully, final stop for the day was at Te Puai. This is at the centre for Maori culture and geothermal wonders. We climbed on a people mover with our guide who is a Maori native. Her people are from this area and fully 80% of the employees can trace their lineage back to a famous chief who led the tribe hundreds of years ago.

Our first stop was to Pōhutu, a huge hot water geyser that spews boiling water out of the rock with the plumes reaching heights of 100 feet. These are the largest geysers in the southern hemisphere. Yellowstone in the U.S. and Geysir in Iceland are the biggest in the northern hemisphere. The geysers "play" about twice an hour - they must have known were coming because they put on a superb show. Our guides people still use the hot water from these geysers for cooking and cleaning and bathing.

Next stop - the mud pits where black mud continually bubbles up out of the ground like in some sort of primordial swamp. Apparently the hot mud helps to relieve muscle aches and pains and the miseries of arthritis. Don't need that mud quite yet.

Next stop -the Kiwi Conservation Centre. Kiwi used to number 70 million in New Zealand. The number is now about 80,000 and that is only because of concerted protection programs such as this one and the one we saw yesterday. In a very dark room (kiwi are nocturnal creatures) we actually were able to see one of the three kiwi that live here. Here the staff do captive breeding, advocacy sessions and dog aversion training that discourage dogs from attacking the kiwi.

We then saw the Marae, the Maori meeting house with its intricate carvings and complex woven materials. Then we got to see NZMACI - the New Zealand Maori Arts and Crafts Institute that is dedicated to ensuring the survival and growth of traditional Maori carving and weaving and other art forms. In the 1920s the Maori culture and traditions were in danger of being lost. The visionary Māori politician, Sir Apirana Ngata, believed that material culture – particularly wood carving – held the key to cultural preservation. His efforts saw the first Māori Arts and Crafts Institute, established in 1926. This helped revive traditional Māori arts and crafts and laid solid foundations for the New Zealand Māori Arts and Craft Institute at Te Puia today.

Wood carving of traditional designs are taught by master carvers to young trainees. At the National Stone and Bone Carving School students learn the revered tradition of carving pounamu (New Zealand greenstone), bone and stone. At the national weaving school students learn the ancient art of Māori weaving. Flax, the plant that we have seen growing everywhere, is the fibre used for clothing, mats, rope, baskets and nets. There is even a part of the school where traditional tā moko (Māori tattooing ) is taught.Read more