Te Puia

Kia Ora! Hello, welcome, long life to you; whichever translation you like!
Started the evening out by seeing our Hangi, our feast, cooked on hot rocks in a hole in the ground. Then we went through a welcoming ceremony where the warrior presented our elected "Chief," Dallas from Australia, with a fern leaf as a gesture of peace. He also went through this complicated routine with his spear before pressing noses with Dallas. Our Chief looked a tad intimidated by the end.
Before dinner the group performed a number of songs and routines, and even taught some of the ladies a poi dance (those things they're swinging around) and the men a haka, a war dance. The marked difference between the teaching styles was amusing. The lady teacher went through every move multiple times with lots of encouragement before they performed the whole with music. The man (the tattooed guy) went through the whole thing once with lots of yelling and at the end said good luck before the music started.
At dinner we ate the food cooked in the Hangi, although our host, Guy, made sure to point out the extremely traditional Maori dessert table of ice cream and custard. After dinner we went down to the geysers and learned a bit about the history of the place. Apparently tribes fought over the land for years due to the value of all the hot springs in the area, with the last major one being in the 1600s. After that they declared a peace and named the place after the victorious chief, a title which I will not attempt.
At the end Guy sang a beautiful farewell song in Maori and followed it up by telling us to write good reviews on Trip Advisor, but if we weren't happy then to remember his name is Dallas.Read more