Pasifika, Blue L, Mitai Maori Village

Another day, another scenic hike! But first, we attended the Pasifika Festival on the downtown beachfront of Rotorua, which is the most culturally diverse city in New Zealand. On the outside of the field were many shelters set up with traditional foods from many different South Pacific Islands. There were a few local craft tables as well. A large stage was set up where local schools performed some traditional songs & dances. We stayed for two local schools’ numbers. We left the downtown and drove to Blue Lake, which has a scenic walking path set up completely around the lake. The trail had huge redwood trees, ferns & palm trees. We walked the 6km track in 90 mins. We didn’t know it, but Blue Lake was hosting an “Ocean Swim” event, the only event in the series in fresh water. We watched the swimmers take off in the Legend of the Lake event, which is the longest swim race of the day, a gruelling 3.5 km swim. Earlier in the day they had 100, 200, 500 & 1000m. races. We finished the day at Maitai Māori Village for a dinner & show. The show documented the history of the Māori through songs & dances. The dinner was a traditional, underground cooked Hangi Feast, which included lamb, chicken, potatoes, garlic bread, seafood chowder and salad. Both were fantastic. If my Fitbit is accurate, & I’m sure it is, we have walked just over 296 kms in the 40 days since we left home. That’s nearly 7.5kms per day on average. If we take out the 10 days on the Catamaran, when we only managed an average of 2 kms per day (as much swimming some days I’m sure) we’ve averaged close to 9 kms per day! The 3 days in Abel Tasman Park, we walked more than 15 kms each day.En savoir plus